tibravy  of  the  theological  Seminary 

PRINCETON  .  NEW  JERSEY 

FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
ROBERT  ELLIOTT  SPEER 

BV  2091  .C34  1901 

The  call,  qualifications  and 
preparation  of  candidates 


THE   CALL,  QUALIFICATIONS   AND   PREP- 
ARATION OF  CANDIDATES   FOR  FOREIGN 
MISSIONARY   SERVICE 


PAPERS    BY  MISSIONARIES  AND 
OTHER  AUTHORITIES 


STUDENT    VOLUNTEER    MOVEMENT    FOR    FOR- 
EIGN MISSIONS,  3  WEST29TH  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

1901 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introductory   Note I 

What  Essentially  Constitutes  a  Missionary  Call  ? 
By  Robert  E.  Speer,  M.A 3 

Christ's  Call  to  Foreign  Missionary  Service  By 
Rev.  George  Wilson,  M.A 7 

The  Call  to  Foreign  Missionary  Work.  By  Rev. 
Jacob  Chamberlain,  M.D.,  D.D 10 

Who  Ought  Not  to  Go  as  Foreign  Missionaries.  By 
Rev.  Henry  H.  Jessup,  D.D 14 

Essential  Spiritual  Qualifications  of  the  Volunteer. 
By  Rt.  Rev.  M.  S.  Baldwin,  D.D.,  Bishop  of 
Huron 23 

Three-fold  Preparation  for  Foreign  Missionary 
Work.  By  Rev.  Jacob  Chamberlain,  M.D., 
D-D 33 

Qualifications  in  Missionary  Candidates  as  Indi- 
cated by  a  Tour  of  the  Fields.  By  Robert  E. 
Speer,  M.A 41 

All-Round   Preparation   for   Foreign   Missionary 

Service.    By  Rev.  James  L.  Barton,  D.D 48 

The  Intellectual  and  Practical  Preparation  of 
the  Volunteer.  Bv  President  J.  C.  R.  Ewing, 
D.D ' 52 

The  Practical  Preparation  of  the  Volunteer     By 

Rev.  Harlan  P.  Beach,  M.A 62 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Practical  Preparation  for  Women  Student  Volun- 
teers.    By  Isabella  Thoburn 71 

The  Training  of  Character.     By  Eugene  Stock. 

M.A ." 76 

Mental   Preparation   for   Missionary  Work.     By 

Principal  T.  W.  Drury,  M.A 81 

The  Need  of  Thinkers  for  the  Mission  Field.    By 

Rev.  John  Clifford,  D.D.,  LL.D 91 

Some  Studies  Suggested  for  Missionary  Can- 
didates.    By  Rev.  J.  H.  Bernard,  D.D 102 

Broad   Culture  Demanded  of  Missionaries.     By 

Rev.  J.  H.  DeForest,  D.D 109 

Preparation  for  the  Mission  Field  Gained  Through 

Personal  Work.    By  Rev.  H.  P.  Beach,  M.A.   115 

Personal  Dealing,  the  Great  Missionary  Method. 

By  Rev.  S.  M.  Zwemer,  F.R.G.S^ 119 

Advice  to  Volunteers.     By  the  Ven.  Archdeacon 

Moule,  B.D 123 

Advice  to  Missionary  Volunteers.     By  Bishop  J. 

M.  Thoburn,  D.D 127 

Practical  Suggestions  to  Missionaries.     By  Rev. 

J.  G.  Brown 133 

The  Importance  to  a  Missionary  of  a  Knowledge 

of  the  People.    By  Rev.  A.  H.  Smith,  D.D.  .    137 

Hints  Concerning  the  First  Study  of  Language 
on  Missionary  Soil.  By  Rev.  Chauncey 
Goodrich,   D.D 141 

Missionary  Efficiency  and  Service.     By    Luther 

Gulick,   M.D 147 

Medical   Advice   to   Outgoing   Missionaries.     By 

Herbert  Lankester,  M.D 151 

The  Young  Woman's  Missionary  Outfit.    By  Mrs. 

Lucy  W.  Waterbury 155 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

This  is  not  a  systematic  treatise  on  the  call,  qualifica- 
tions and  preparation  of  candidates  for  foreign  mis- 
sionary service.  It  is  simply  a  collection  of  papers 
prepared,  with  one  exception,  for  The  Student  Volun- 
teer, New  York,  The  Student  Volunteer,  London,  The 
Inter  collegian,  New  York,  and  the  Conventions  of  the 
Student  Volunteer  Movement  in  Great  Britain  and  in 
the  United  States  and  Canada.  Each  one  is  by  an 
expert  who  is  fitted  to  give  helpful  advice  to  those 
preparing  for  work  in  the  foreign  mission  field  For 
the  convenience  of  student  volunteers  these  papers  are 
published  in  this  form,  as  the  original  sources  are 
accessible  to  very  few.  The  reader  will  discover  repeti- 
tions. This  is  to  be  expected  in  a  collection  of  mis- 
cellaneous papers  on  the  call,  qualifications  and  prepa- 
ration of  missionary  candidates  prepared  by  different 
writers  independently  of  each  other.  Each  paper,  how- 
ever, treats  the  subject  under  consideration  in  an 
original  way,  and  merits  being  given  some  permanent 
form. 

These  articles  will  be  of  value  to  students  who  are 
endeavoring  to  decide  what  their  life  work  shall  be. 
The  various  phases  of  missionary  work  and  the  quali- 
fications necessary  for  successful  missionary  service 
are  clearly  presented.  Any  student,  whether  thinking 
of  giving  his  life  to  foreign  missions  or  not,  will  be 
profited  by  a  careful  reading  of  these  papers. 


It  is  believed  that  the  volume  will  furnish  a  basis 
for  a  series  of  studies  on  the  call  and  preparation  of 
missionary  candidates  in  the  regular  meetings  of  the 
Volunteer  Band.  Such  a  course  will  not  duplicate  the 
work  of  the  mission  study  classes  or  the  subjects  pre- 
sented in  the  regular  missionary  meetings  of  the  Asso- 
ciation. To  aid  Bands  in  such  studies  a  brief  outline 
has  been  prepared.  It  will  be  sent  on  application  to 
the  General  Secretary  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment, 3  West  29th  street,  New  York. 

Fennell  P.  Turner. 


WHAT    ESSENTIALLY    CONSTITUTES    A   MISSION- 
ARY CALL?1 

ROBERT  E.  SPEER,  M.A.,  NEW  YORK 

There  is  an  assumption  underlying  this  question, 
which  almost  justifies  the  reply  that  that  which  essen- 
tially constitutes  a  call  to  the  foreign  field  is  the  absence 
of  a  call  to  stay  at  home.  And  although  that  answer 
would  be  altogether  too  summary,  yet,  from  one  point 
of  view,  it  would  be  fair  to  give  it.  The  man  who 
assumes  that  some  special  kind  of  call  is  required  to 
send  him  out  to  the  mission  field  might  properly  be 
answered  by  the  inquiry  as  to  what  special  call  other 
men  ought  to  have  to  justify  them  in  staying  at  home. 
The  fact  that  a  man  is  born  in  a  certain  condition  does 
not  carry  the  assumption  that  he  is  bound  to  continue 
forever  in  that  condition,  for  he  may  be  born  a  klepto- 
maniac. Being  born  here  or  there  only  lays  upon  us 
the  responsibility  of  ascertaining  whether  that  is  the 
place  wherein  we  are  intended  to  spend  all  our  lives. 
However,  the  answer  suggested  would  not  be  a  fair 
one.  Life  is  a  very  complex  business,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  does  not  work  in  mechanical  grooves.  We  can- 
not draw  up  any  brief  formula  which  shall  infallibly 
direct  the  life.  This  matter  of  the  missionary  call  is  a 
complex  thing.  It  involves,  for  one  thing,  God's  will ; 
and,  for  another,  man's  discovery  of  that  will.    Possi- 


lReport  Student  Volunteer  Convention,  London,  1900. 
3 


4  WHAT  CONSTITUTES  A  MISSIONARY  CALL? 

bly,  God  may  have  a  will  for  a  man  which  that  man  is 
not  willing  to  discover;  or  the  man  may  desire  to  do  a 
certain  thing  and  pursue  a  given  course  which  is  not 
God's  will  for  him. 

There  are  two  points  which  may  help  to  answer  the 
question  in  a  negative  way.  First,  we  cannot  assume 
that  the  absence  of  a  desire  to  go  to  the  mission  field  is 
an  indication  that  we  are  not  to  go.  Many  proceed  on 
the  assumption  that,  unless  they  want  to  go,  they  are 
not  called  to  go ;  but  that  does  not  follow.  One  of  the 
best  of  our  old  missionaries  in  China  told  me,  during  his 
fourth  visit  to  the  United  States,  that  he  never  came 
to  America  without  meeting  dozens  of  ministers  who 
told  him  that  they  had  made  the  great  mistake  of  their 
lives  in  not  answering  God's  call  to  the  foreign  field; 
yet  they  did  not  discover  that  they  had  made  the  mistake 
until  it  was  apparently  too  late  for  remedy.  God  will 
not  coerce  men.  He  works  along  the  channels  of  per- 
sonal desire  and  inclination.  If  we  refuse  to  have  sym- 
pathy with  His  Son  and  with  His  world,  He  will  not 
drive  us  into  the  mission  field.  I  do  not  believe  that  a 
man  has  any  right  to  ask  for  a  call  to  missions  which 
shall  be  of  a  character  or  quantity  different  from  the 
call  to  practice  medicine  or  law,  or  to  lay  bricks,  in  his 
own  country.  A  man  has  a  right  to  take  up  any  kind 
of  work,  only  so  far  as  God  assigns  it  to  him.  We  have 
no  right  to  ask,  for  missionary  work,  any  leading  of  a 
kind  different  from  that  which  we  receive  as  we  look 
toward  this  or  that  occupation  at  home. 

Having  said  these  things  by  way  of  clearing  the 
ground,  I  may  now  say  that  there  are  three  elements 
which  enter  into  the  determination  of  a  call  to  the  mis- 
sion  field.     The   first   is   the   need.     We  know   that. 


WHAT  CONSTITUTES  A  MISSIONARY  CALL?  5 

clearly,  the  need  constitutes  a  call.  I  stand,  for  exam- 
ple, upon  a  river  bank,  and  some  people  are  drowning 
in  the  stream.  I  do  not  need  to  have  any  legal  process 
assigning  me  to  the  duty  of  their  rescue.  It  is  enough 
for  me  that  people  are  drowning ;  that  they  are  in  need 
and  that  I  can  help  them.  That  constitutes  as  much 
and  as  a  great  call  to  me,  as  if  an  officer  of  the  law 
were  to  take  me  by  the  throat  and  say,  "Save  those 
people,  or  I  will  put  you  into  prison  for  your  negli- 
gence." Need  is  one  great  element.  A  second  is  ab- 
sence of  any  personal  disqualification ;  and  we  ourselves 
are  not  the  best  judges  there.  A  great  many  men  think 
they  are  too  intelligent  to  go  out  to  the  missionary 
field,  and  others  think  they  are  not  intelligent  enough ; 
but  no  man  is  able  to  judge  himself  either  way.  All 
kinds  of  qualifications  enter  into  missionary  life;  but 
whether  we  possess  the  requisite  qualifications  or  lack 
sufficient  of  them  to  disqualify  us,  is  best  determined 
for  us  by  someone  else.  The  third  element  is  absence 
of  any  insuperable  hindrance,  and  of  course  the  ques- 
tion whether  it  is  insuperable  or  not  depends  upon  the 
personal  ability  to  get  over  the  hindrance.  A  great 
many  persons  are  hindered  by  a  difficulty  that  would 
not  hinder  others.  I  think  that  when  once  one  has 
gained  a  vision  of  the  world's  need,  like  Christ's  vision, 
and  a  love  for  it  like  His  love,  a  great  many  hindrances 
will  no  longer  appear  to  be  such. 

Take  these  three  things  together — the  need  of  the 
world,  the  presence  of  subjective  qualifications  for 
missionary  service,  and  the  absence  of  any  insuperable 
obstacles  in  the  way,  and  I  think  those  three  will 
constitute  a  presumption  that  a  man  ought  to  go  to 
the  missionary  field.     I  think  that  is  not  an  unfair 


6  WHAT  CONSTITUTES  A  MISSIONARY  CALL? 

way  of  putting  it.  In  that  way  it  was  that  Keith- 
Falconer  dealt  with  himself  just  before  he  went 
out  to  Arabia.  "Whilst  vast  continents  are  shrouded 
in  almost  utter  darkness,  and  hundreds  of  millions 
suffer  the  horrors  of  heathenism,  or  of  Islam,  the 
burden  of  proof  lies  upon  you  to  show  that  the 
circumstances  in  which  God  has  placed  you  were  meant 
by  Him  to  keep  you  out  of  the  foreign  mission  field." 

In  other  words,  the  question  for  us  to  answer  is  not, 
Am  I  called  to  the  foreign  field?  but,  Can  I  show 
sufficient  cause  for  not  going?  We  may  be  quite  sure 
that  if  we  face  in  that  direction  God  can  much  more 
easily  deter  us  from  going,  if  He  so  determines,  than 
He  can  get  us  out  there  if  we  face  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion. As  a  friend  of  mine  said,  "God  Himself  cannot 
switch  a  powerless  engine;  but  He  can  use  the  man 
who  is  willing  to  go  out  as  a  missionary,  who  is  moving 
all  the  time  right  out  towards  the  missionary  field, 
trusting  God  to  turn  him  aside  if  He  sees  fit."  As  we 
read  the  life  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  we  find  that  he  was 
not  like  a  balking  horse,  always  waiting  to  be  driven ; 
but  he  was  ever  moving  and  expecting  to  receive  direc- 
tions as  he  moved.  He  tried  this  door  and  that;  and 
when  they  were  shut  in  his  face,  he  went  around  until 
he  came  to  the  open  door.  He  did  not  sit  down  indo- 
lently until  God  forced  him  along  His  way  and  until 
he  came  to  the  single  open  door  for  which  he  looked. 

I  think  one  might  properly  answer  this  question  by 
saying  that  the  essential  element  of  a  missionary  call  is 
an  openness  of  mind  to  the  last  command  of  Christ  and 
to  the  need  of  the  world;  and  then  one  needs  only  to 
subject  himself  to  the  judgment  of  the  proper  authori- 
ties as  to  whether  he  is  qualified  to  go. 


CHRIST'S  CALL  TO  MISSIONARY  SERVICE3 

REV.    GEORGE    WILSON,    M.A. 

What  constitutes  Christ's  call  to  a  Christian  man  or 
woman,  personally,  to  leave  home  and  home-land,  to 
live  and  labor  in  some  "uttermost  part  of  the  earth"? 

We  take  two  things  for  granted.  ( I )  That  you  are 
scripturally,  radically,  and  consciously  converted.  If 
you  are  not  this,  or  if  this  is  to  you  short  of  a  humble 
certainty,  then  you  are  neither  qualified  nor  called  to 
be  a  missionary,  either  at  home  or  abroad.  (2)  That 
you  are  absolutely  surrendered  to  the  will  of  Christ; 
that  in  relation  to  Christ  you  are  in  the  position  of  a 
ready  "bond-servant,"  waiting  on  Him  and  on  no  one 
else  for  the  sphere  of  your  service,  and  for  your  serv- 
ing orders.  This  is  the  only  attitude  in  which  you  can 
hear,  understand,  and  obey  Christ's  call  to  the  office 
of  a  missionary. 

I.  Do  not  settle  your  staying  at  home  as  a  mere  mat- 
ter of  course ;  you  may  take  for  granted  that  you  have 
no  distinct  call  to  go  abroad.  Have  you  had  a  distinct 
call  from  Christ  to  stay  at  home?  Christ  has  no  un- 
called servants,  and  His  servants  have  no  self-chosen 
spheres.  Do  not  drift  to  a  home  sphere  on  the  current 
of  circumstances.  The  parting  of  the  ways  of  your 
life  is  with  the  Lord,  and  be  quite  sure  that  you  stay 
at  home  only  under  direct  orders  from  the  Master.    He 


1The  Student  Volunteer,  London,  February,  1897. 
7 


8  CHRIST  S  CALL  TO  MISSIONARY  SERVICE 

has  given  you  grace  and  gift  to  be  a  preacher,  a 
teacher,  a  doctor,  and  these  are  given  for  the  sake  of 
the  world.  He  who  gave  the  gifts  must  choose  for 
you  the  sphere  in  which  they  are  to  be  used  for  Him. 
It  is,  therefore,  as  important  for  you  to  have  a  call 
from  Christ  to  stay  at  home,  as  to  have  a  call  from 
Him  to  go  abroad. 

2.  In  waiting  on  Christ  for  the  distinct  missionary 
call,  begin  by  asking  Him  to  show  you  where  He  has 
most  need  of  you.  Do  not  begin  by  telling  where  you 
would  like  to  go,  but  by  asking  where  you  can  best 
serve.  Has  He  more  need  for  you  among  the  Christ- 
refusers  in  the  home-lands  than  among  the  millions 
in  the  heathen  world,  who  have  never  heard  His  name? 
Do  not  settle  that  question  for  yourself.  Let  Christ 
settle  with  you.  But  face  it  bravely,  trustingly,  and 
obediently  at  His  feet.  He  holds  the  disposal  of  His 
forces  in  His  own  hand,  and  will  settle  with  you  where 
He  has  most  need  of  you.  If  you  thus  set  yourself 
to  be  placed  by  Him  in  the  sphere  where  you  can  best 
serve  Him,  then  we  are  sure  that  you  will  find  your 
personal  liking  lying  directly  in  the  line  of  His  need 
of  you.  You  and  the  Master  will  be  perfectly  at  one, 
and  if  He  points  out  to  you  that  He  needs  you  in  some 
remote  sphere  of  a  far-off  land,  that  sphere  will  be 
dearer  to  your  heart  than  home  or  friends  or  father- 
land. His  sweet  and  gracious  call  is  far  more  than 
compensation  for  all  we  have  to  give  up  in  obeying. 
The  thought  that  He  calls  you  to  where  He  most  needs 
you,  is  not  only  your  highest  honor,  but  your  purest 
joy. 

3.  When  Christ  by  the  in-shining  and  in-pressing 
of  His  blessed  Spirit  beckons  you  to  some  far-off  field, 


CHRIST  S  CALL  TO  MISSIONARY  SERVICIi  9 

do  not  be  cast  down  with  difficulties.  Remember  that 
the  questions  of  health,  gift  to  acquire  a  foreign  lan- 
guage, capacity  for  guiding  men,  strength  to  endure 
hardship  and  ability  to  get  on  with  others  are  impor- 
tant, but  they  are  secondary  questions.  I  do  not  think 
the  Holy  Spirit  will  move  your  mind  to  go,  if  you  are 
not  fitted  to  be  taught  by  Him  and  qualified  for  the 
work.  We  have  seen  men  sent  on  the  plea  of  splendid 
natural  gifts  and  utterly  fail.  We  have  seen  men 
thrust  forth  by  the  Spirit  with  what  seemed  weak 
natural  gifts,  and  prove  wonderful  witnesses  and  the 
instruments  of  a  wonder-working  God.  Do  not  des- 
pise common  sense,  but  in  the  Spirit-guided  life  there 
is  an  uncommon  sense.  If  God  lays  it  upon  your  heart 
by  a  calm  and  continuous  inward  pressure  to  go  to 
the  mission-field,  obey  the  call  and  believe  that  He 
will  see  to  the  imparting  and  the  culture  of  all  the 
needed  gifts.  Place  His  will  with  you,  and  for  you 
first,  and  you  will  go  forth  in  the  strength  of  His  en- 
dowment. 

4.  Settle  the  missionary  call  with  Christ  now,  what- 
ever be  the  stage  of  your  studies.  The  declaration 
which  the  members  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment sign  contains  this  condition,  "if  God  permit." 
This  is  ample  provision  for  all  the  contingencies  in  the 
life  of  faith.  And  it  is  of  immense  advantage  to  have 
an  early  missionary  outlook.  The  Spirit  then  brings 
all  your  reading  to  bear  on  the  life  work  to  which  the 
Lord  has  called  you.  While  you  are  seeking  the  train- 
ing of  a  wide  and  generous  culture,  the  Spirit  will  pre- 
pare you  to  be  a  specialist  in  bringing  souls  to  Christ. 
Settle  the  matter  with  Christ,  and  settle  it  now. 


THE  CALL  TO  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  WORK1 

REV.  JACOB  CHAMBERLAIN,  M.D.,  D.D.,  OF  INDIA 

There  is,  I  believe,  a  widespread  misapprehension 
on  the  subject  of  the  call  to  be  a  missionary.  Many  a 
young  man  and  young  woman  has  said  to  me,  "I  think 
I  would  be  willing  to  be  a  missionary  if  I  felt  a  call  to 
that  work,  but  I  do  not  feel  that  God  has  called  me. 
He  has  never  indicated  to  me  that  I  should  go."  A 
special  call  from  God  seems  to  be  waited  for  by  many 
even  earnest  young  Christians.    They  will  never  get  it. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  in  the  opening  up  of  the 
foreign  missionary  work  in  this  century,  and  for  enter- 
ing upon  new  and  untested  fields  in  later  years,  God 
has  issued  special  calls  to  individuals.  He  has  felt  it 
necessary  Himself  to  select  the  leaders,  the  pioneers,  in 
each  field.  He  has  sent  into  their  souls  such  a  "call" 
that  they  have  felt  "Woe  is  unto  me  if  I  preach  not  the 
gospel"  in  that  particular  field.  Many  of  the  heroes  of 
missions  have  been  thus  "thrust  into  the  harvest/'  and 
we  have  been  thrilled  by  the  story  of  their  "call"  no  less 
than  by  the  story  of  their  achievements.  God  may  thus 
call  special  leaders  in  the  future.  But  those  are  the 
exceptions,  not  the  rule.  God  does  not  waste  His 
special  providences,  His  special  calls. 

Our  Commander-in-Chief,  when  He  had  completed 
His  work  on  earth,  and  was  ascending  again  to  be  on 


*The  Inter  collegian.  New  York,  November,  iooo. 
10 


THE  CALL  TO  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  WORK  II 

the  throne,  did  not  feel  it  necessary  to  send  an  indi- 
vidual or  special  call  to  each  one  of  His  believers;  but 
addressing  the  multitude  around  Him,  those  bought 
by  His  blood — yes,  all  believers — He  said,  "All 
power  is  given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and  in  earth  Go 
ye  therefore  and  disciple  all  nations."  Ye — every  one 
looking  for  redemption  through  My  blood,  go  ye  and 
pass  on  this  news  to  all  those  in  all  the  world  who  know 
it  not.  That  is  thy  call,  O  young  man,  young  woman. 
Will  you  say,  "O  crucified  One!  that  is  not  enough 
for  me.  Unless  you  send  me  a  special  letter,  a  special 
providence — unless  you  speak  directly  to  me,  in  my 
individual  soul,  so  that  I  shall  hear  Thy  special  sum- 
mons, I  will  not  go"?  Treat  not  thus  the  once  given 
positive  command  of  thy  Royal  Master,  or  leanness 
may  shrivel  thy  soul  for  thy  neglect. 

Every  young  man  or  woman  entering  upon  life's 
opportunities  owes  it  to  his  Lord,  who  bought  him, 
to  open  his  New  Testament  and  put  his  finger  on  that 
verse  where  it  says  in  positive  tones,  "Go  ye,"  and 
loyally  ask,  "Why  not  I?  Is  there  any  reason  that  I 
can  give,  which  Christ  would  consider  sufficient,  why 
I  should  not  obey  that  behest?" 

Not  all  can  go.  Even  in  the  conscription  for  the  war 
of  all  able-bodied  men  for  the  army,  the  examining 
boards  rejected  full  many  who  reported  for  service. 
Certain  physical  defects  incapacitated  some;  certain 
mental  ailments  disqualified  others;  certain  filial  or 
family  duties,  certain  social  or  professional  obligations, 
certain  official  responsibilities  were  held  to  absolve 
others.  So  in  Christ's  order  to  the  front  in  the 
foreign  missionary  enterprise  He  says  to  all  believers, 
"Go  ye,  evangelize  all  nations."     But  woe  to  those 


1  2  THE  CALL  TO  FOREIGN   MISSIONARY   WORK 

who  in  this  case  give  a  false  excuse,  for  He  knows  the 
inmost  soul;  He  measures  the  validity  of  each  excuse. 
And  the  loving,  tender  son  of  Mary  said,  "He  that 
loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  Me  is  not  worthy  of 
Me."  And  to  those  who  would  keep  their  sons,  their 
daughters,  back  from  His  special  service  comes  that 
earnest  warning  voice,  "He  that  loveth  son  or  daughter 
more  than  Me  is  not  worthy  of  Me."  Alas,  alas !  for 
that  man  or  woman,  young  or  old,  of  whom  that  voice 
should  say,  "He,  she,  is  not  worthy  of  Me." 

Physical,  mental  defects,  filial,  family  duties,  social, 
official  complications  must  indeed  be  taken  into  account, 
but  let  them  be  weighed  with  the  consciousness  that 
the  loving  eye  of  Christ  is  peering  into  thy  inmost 
soul,  and  then,  whatever  be  thy  decision,  joy  of  heart 
and  a  fruitful  life  may  confidently  be  anticipated. 

But  what  are  the  needed  qualifications  for  being  a 
successful  missionary?  I  presuppose  such  physical 
condition  as  would  enable  one  to  obtain  an  insurance 
policy  in  a  first-class  life  insurance  company,  and  such 
intellectual  capacity  as  to  pass  through  college  and 
professional  school  with  credit. 

What  further  is  needed  may  all  be  summed  up  in  the 
old  minister's  "three  royal  G's" — Grace,  Grit,  and 
Gumption.  Grace  means  here  consecration  to  Christ 
and  ardent  love  for  man.  Without  these  a  missionary 
would  be  a  sad  misfit.  Grit  is  a  dogged  perseverance 
in  the  performance  of  one's  work,  even  if  one  sees  no 
immediate  fruit,  relying  implicitly  on  Him  who  said, 
My  word  "shall  not  return  unto  Me  void."  Gumption 
implies  a  fair  quantity  of  that  somewhat  uncommon 
quality,  common  sense — the  ability  to  adapt  one's  self 
to  circumstances,  to  make  the  best  of  one's  surround- 


THE  CALL  TO  FOREIGN   MISSIONARY  WORK  1 3 

ings,  while  judiciously,  zealously  endeavoring  to  better 
them;  the  capacity  to  work  in  harmony  with  one's 
fellow-workers,  and  the  ability  to  seize  and  wield  every 
available  weapon  for  the  prosecution  of  our  warfare. 

With  health,  mental  capacity,  grace,  grit,  and  gump- 
tion, no  one  need  fear  that  the  Master  cannot  use  him 
or  her  as  a  mighty  force  for  the  pushing  forward  of 
His  kingdom,  even  in  the  most  difficult  fields. 

Possessed  of  these,  the  work  in  all  lands  will 
itself  furnish  round  holes  for  round  men,  square 
holes  for  square  men.  Every  kind  is  needed 
and  can  be  utilized.  The  eloquence  of  a  Paul, 
or  the  quiet  persuasiveness  of  a  Barnabas,  or  the  blun- 
dering energy  of  a  Peter  will  tell  in  evangelistic  work. 
The  skill  of  a  Gamaliel  in  educational  work  will  find 
its  scope,  for  we  must,  on  the  ground,  train  up  in  each 
land  native  Pauls  and  Timothys,  Aquilas  and  Priscillas, 
Apolloses  and  Salomes  for  founding,  instructing,  and 
extending  the  native  Church. 

The  most  expert  linguists  will  find  their  place  in 
translating  and  revising  translations  of  the  Bible  and 
in  preparing  needed  vernacular  Christian  literature; 
the  most  highly  qualified  physicians  in  following  in  the 
footsteps  of  the  Great  Physician  in  healing  all  manner 
of  diseases  and  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom ; 
trained  nurses  in  nursing  the  sick  back  to  life  and  into 
the  life  in  Christ  Jesus. 

All  and  more  than  all  of  these  qualifications  are  to  be 
desired,  but  no  one  with  health,  capacity,  and  "the 
three  G's"  need  fear  to  undertake  this  royal  service  in 
any  land,  for  he  goes  in  the  service  of  Him  of  whom 
the  Apostle  Paul,  who  had  tried  it,  said,  "My  God  shall 
supply  all  your  need." 


WHO  OUGHT  NOT   TO   GO   AS   FOREIGN   MISSION- 
ARIES ' 

REV.    HENRY    H.    JESSUP,    D.D.,    OF    SYRIA. 

Who,  among  Christian  students  ought  not  to  go? 
As  the  result  of  an  experience  of  nearly  forty  years  at 
the  front  I  can  mention  twelve  classes  of  men  who  will 
be  justified  in  remaining  at  home. 

i.  Those  in  infirm  health.  It  is  not  wise  to  send 
invalids  so  far  away  from  home.  The  expense  is  so 
great  and  the  risk  so  severe  that  none  but  those  of 
mens  sana  in  corpore  sano  should  go  abroad.  No 
one  should  go  who  cannot  pass  the  examination  of  a 
medical  examiner  of  a  reliable  life  insurance  company. 

2.  Those  too  old  to  learn  a  foreign  language.  It  is 
not  often  that  one  over  thirty  can  master  a  difficult 
foreign  language.  Mr.  Calhoun  of  Syria  began  to 
study  the  Arabic  language  at  nearly  forty  and  suc- 
ceeded, but  he  had  had  previous  experience  with  the 
modern  Greek.  Good  linguists  can  learn  a  foreign 
language  at  thirty-five  or  even  forty,  but  such  cases 
are  the  rare  exceptions.  Some  foreign  tongues  are 
easier  than  others,  but  as  a  rule  it  is  better  to  send  the 
young  to  grapple  with  Zulu  clicks,  Arabic  gutturals, 
and  Chinese  characters. 

3.  No  one  should  go  who  is  unzvilling  to  go  any- 
where.   There  should  be  complete  self-surrender.    The 


The  Student  Volunteer,  New  York,  February,  1895. 
14 


WHO  OUGHT  NOT  TO  GO  1 5 

wise  and  experienced  officers  of  our  Mission  Boards 
are  always  ready  to  consider  the  personal  preferences 
of  candidates  for  special  fields.  But  the  true  spirit  of 
a  missionary  is  one  of  readiness  to  go  "where  duty  calls 
or  danger,"  making  no  conditions. 

4.  Those  who  believe  that  the  missionary  enterprise 
is  doomed  to  failure.  Mr.  Moody  once  said  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  American  Board,  "Pessimists  have  no  place 
in  the  Christian  pulpit.  We  want  hopeful  men."  And 
we  can  say  with  equal  truth,  Pessimists  have  no  place 
in  the  foreign  missionary  work.  We  want  hopeful  men 
in  this  glorious  aggressive  warfare.  Our  King  and 
Captain  is  going  forth  "conquering  and  to  conquer." 
It  is  a  winning  cause.  Expect  to  succeed.  Omnip- 
otence is  on  your  side.  The  Eternal  Spirit  of  God  is 
with  you.  Christ  is  "with  you  alway,  even  unto  the 
end  of  the  world."  The  Dispensation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  not  a  failure,  and  was  not  intended  to  be  a 
failure.  You  go  to  lead  men  to  Christ,  to  organize 
churches,  to  train  a  Christian  ministry,  to  lay  founda- 
tions for  a  glorious  spiritual  building  to  the  praise  and 
honor  of  Christ.  If  you  expect  only  disaster,  retro- 
gression and  final  collapse,  and  can  only  look  on  the 
dark  side,  do  not  go  abroad  to  cast  the  gloom  of  your 
pessimism  over  your  fellow  laborers  and  finally  sink  in 
despair.  You  can  do  little  at  home  with  such  a  spirit. 
You  can  do  still  less  abroad. 

5.  Impatient  men.  It  is  a  long  hard  work  and  needs 
patience.  You  must  prepare  the  soil,  sow  the  good 
seed,  water  it  with  your  tears,  and  then  wait  for  the 
harvest.  The  Baptist  Board  of  Missions  got  tired  of 
waiting  for  the  seed  to  germinate  in  the  Telugu  soil  of 
India  and  were  ready  to  give  up  the  work  and  with- 


I  6  WHO  OUGHT  NOT  TO  GO 

draw.  But  a  few  patient,  faithful  workers  refused  to 
withdraw,  and  soon  after,  10,000  were  baptized  in  one 
year !  Be  willing  to  sow  and  to  let  others  reap.  How 
many  missionaries  have  lived  and  toiled  and  died  with- 
out the  sight  of  fruit!  But  others  entered  into  their 
labors  and  gathered  the  harvest.  An  impatient  man  is 
easily  discouraged.  The  Lord's  patience  is  great.  If 
He  can  wait  for  the  harvest,  His  servants  can. 

6.  Men  without  common  sense.  This  is  a  virtue  the 
want  of  which  nothing  else  will  supply.  Brilliant  tal- 
ents, great  linguistic  gifts,  impetuous  zeal,  all,  alas, 
will  fail  without  mental  balance.  A  man  without  level- 
headed common  sense  will  do  more  mischief  in  a  day 
than  a  whole  mission  can  undo  in  a  year.  A  person 
calling  himself  a  missionary  went  from  England  to 
India.  After  some  months  he  wrote  to  his  home  com- 
mittee, "I  should  get  on  very  well  if  it  were  not  for 
these  wretched  natives  who  come  crowding  in  upon 
me,  but  now  I  have  got  a  bull-dog  and  hope  to  keep 
them  away !"  Religious  enthusiasm  has  led  some  to  go 
abroad,  despising  the  means  God  has  given  us  for  pre- 
serving life  and  health,  and  they  have  sacrificed  their 
own  lives  and  the  lives  of  others  and  given  occasion  to 
the  enemies  of  God  to  blaspheme.  Some  of  them  have 
become  a  charge  on  other  missionaries.  What  would 
St.  Luke,  the  beloved  physician,  have  said  to  the  mod- 
ern school  of  enthusiasts  who  denounce  doctors  and 
medicines  as  of  the  Evil  One?  Common  sense  in  every 
day  life  is  a  sine  qua  non  in  the  foreign  mission  work. 

7.  Intractable  men.  Such  men  cannot  yield  to  a 
majority  vote.  They  are  not  needed  abroad.  The 
work  needs  tractable,  courteous  men,  willing  to  take 
advice  and  to  work  with  others.    One  self-opinionated, 


WHO  OUGHT  NOT  TO  GO  I  7 

arbitrary,  wilful  man  will  bring  disaster  upon  a  mis- 
sion. Missions  are  self-governing  bodies,  and  the 
majority  must  decide  every  question.  Intractable  men 
make  trouble  enough  at  home,  yet  in  a  Christian  land 
they  soon  find  their  level,  under  the  tide  of  public  opin- 
ion. But  in  a  little  organized  self-governing  body  in  a 
distant  corner  of  the  earth,  such  men  work  great 
mischief. 

Dr.  Anderson  of  the  American  Board  told  me  in 
1857,  that  a  young  man  once  came  to  the  mission  house 
in  Boston  as  a  candidate  for  the  foreign  mission  field. 
Dr.  Anderson  invited  him  to  spend  the  night  with  him 
in  Roxbury,  and  as  they  were  walking  together  the 
young  man  suddenly  said,  "I  prefer  to  walk  on  the 
right  side."  Dr.  Anderson  said  to  him,  "May  I  ask 
why  you  walk  on  the  right  side?  Are  you  deaf  in  one 
ear?"  "No,"  said  the  young  man,  "but  I  prefer  to 
walk  on  the  right  side  and  /  always  will  walk  on  the 
right  side."  That  young  man  was  not  sent  abroad. 
It  was  evident  that  a  man  who  was  bent  on  having  his 
own  way  without  giving  reasons  would  be  likely  to 
make  mischief,  and  his  right  side  would  be  pretty  sure 
to  be  the  wrong  side. 

8.  Superficially  prepared  men.  No  one  can  predict 
what  duties  may  devolve  on  a  foreign  missionary: 
Bible  translation,  organization  of  churches,  the  mould- 
ing of  a  new  native  Christian  social  fabric,  dealing  with 
subtle  philosophies,  preparing  a  Christian  literature, 
founding  institutions  of  learning,  and  perhaps  a  whole 
educational  system,  guiding  the  ignorant,  and  often- 
time  dealing  with  kings  and  rulers.  Surely  such  a 
man  should  be  well  trained.  If  a  physician,  he  should 
be  thoroughly  equipped,  and  not  be  satisfied  with  any 


1 8  WHO  OUGHT  NOT  TO  CO 

short,  hasty  course  of  preparation.  He  should  be  able 
not  only  to  secure  the  diploma  of  a  medical  college,  but 
pass  the  test  of  examination  by  the  New  York  or  Mas- 
sachusetts State  Board  of  Examiners.  The  most  com- 
plete all-round,  theological  or  medical  training  is  the 
best  preparation  for  the  foreign  missionary  work.  To 
this  should  be  added,  experience  in  personal  Christian 
work  in  the  cities  or  the  country. 

9.  Men  of  unsettled  religious  views.  The  foreign 
mission  work  needs  men  who  believe  something,  who 
are  anchored  to  the  Rock,  who  believe  in  the  Bible,  and 
in  Christ  as  the  only  Saviour.  Not  men  who  regard 
the  Bible  as  one  of  the  sacred  books,  and  Christ  as  one 
of  the  Saviours.  The  world  wants  something  positive. 
It  is  tired  of  feeding  on  ashes  and  wind.  If  you  do 
not  know  what  you  believe,  stay  at  home  until  you  do. 
Preach  the  old,  old  story  without  modification  or  dilu- 
tion. The  Gospel  is  what  the  nations  need.  Redemp- 
tion through  the  blood  of  Christ  is  the  only  revealed 
way  of  salvation.  There  is  not  wisdom  enough  on 
earth  or  among  the  angels  of  heaven,  to  devise  a  better 
plan  of  salvation  than  that  given  us  in  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

10.  Men  who  are  afraid  of  torrid  climates  and  hard 
languages.  There  is  nothing  in  these  to  alarm  a  Chris- 
tian soldier.  When  Stanley  advertised  for  men  to  go 
to  Equatorial  Africa,  twelve  hundred  men  offered  to 
go,  fearing  neither  serpents,  savages,  cannibals,  mala- 
ria, starvation,  nor  death  itself.  The  British  Govern- 
ment has  thousands  of  candidates  applying  for  posts 
in  the  East  India  service,  though  it  involves  exposure 
to  that  trying  climate  and  an  expatriation  of  at  least 
twenty  years.    And  shall  we  do  less  for  Christ  and  our 


WHO  OUGHT  NOT  TO  GO  1 9 

fellow  men  ?  And  as  to  languages,  if  the  native  babies 
in  Asia  and  Africa  can  learn  those  hard  guttural  lan- 
guages, you  can.  Grace  and  grit  will  triumph  over 
the  hardest  language.  You  will  make  mistakes,  morti- 
fying, shocking  mistakes,  but  no  matter,  try  again. 
You  will  need  the  humility  of  a  little  child  and  his  good- 
natured  perseverance  in  learning  his  mother  tongue, 
but  any  young  man  or  woman  of  good  health,  and 
habits  of  mental  discipline,  can  master  any  Asiatic 
or  African  language,  as  others  have  already  done. 

II.  Men  who  hesitate  to  condescend  to  the  lowly, 
depraved  and  besotted.  The  unevangelized  nations  are 
not  all  besotted  and  repulsive  in  their  habits,  but  there 
are  tribes  of  half-naked,  filthy  and  imbruted  children 
of  nature  from  whom  a  civilized  man  involuntarily 
shrinks.  Yet  they  are  men  for  whom  Christ  died.  Can 
you  go  and  live  among  such  men  and  women  ?  Do  you 
say,  I  am  not  called  to  such  a  degradation,  this  is  too 
great  a  sacrifice,  too  exacting  a  condescension  ?  Think 
what  Christ  has  done  for  you.  In  the  year  1854,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  W.  Goodell,  of  Constantinople,  said  in  a 
charge  to  a  young  missionary  just  setting  out  for 
Western  Africa,  "When  your  whole  nature  revolts  from 
contact  with  degraded  and  naked  savages,  and  you  feel 
that  you  cannot  bear  to  associate  with  them,  remember 
what  a  demand  you  make  every  day,  when  you  ask  the 
pure  and  sinless  Spirit  of  the  Eternal  God  to  come 
not  to  sojourn  but  to  abide  in  your  vile,  sinful  heart !" 

Think  what  Christ  has  done  for  you.  You  need  a 
heart  full  of  love  to  men  for  Christ's  sake.  If  you  love 
men,  you  will  see  their  nobility  and  the  beauty  of  God's 
image  in  them,  in  spite  of  the  scars  and  deformities  of 
sin.    And  if  you  love  them  they  will  see  it  and  feel  it, 


20  WHO  OUGHT  NOT  TO  GO 

and  will  love  you  in  return.  Love  them  and  you  will 
win  them,  and  they  will  love  you,  and  then  how  easy 
to  lead  them  to  Christ ! 

12.  Lastly>  men  who  think  of  the  missionary  work  as 
a  temporary  service,  or  a  convenient  way  of  serving 
themselves.  Some  men  have  entered  the  foreign  mis- 
sionary work  in  order  to  study  foreign  languages  and 
fit  themselves  for  a  position  at  home;  or  in  order  to 
travel  in  foreign  parts ;  or  to  engage  in  mere  scientific 
exploration  or  commercial  pursuits. 

Such  men  do  not  deserve  the  name  of  missionaries. 
The  missionary  work  should  be,  if  possible,  a  life  work. 
If  you  go  abroad,  expect  to  spend  your  life  among  the 
people  and  to  identify  yourself  with  them.  Let  nothing 
turn  you  aside  from  your  work.  Missionaries  are 
sometimes  tempted  to  leave  their  work  by  the  allure- 
ments of  literature,  diplomacy,  or  commerce.  Their 
familiarity  with  foreign  languages,  with  the  treasures 
of  Oriental  literature,  and  with  the  mineral  resources 
of  distant  lands,  render  them  peculiarly  liable  to  temp- 
tation from  these  sources  of  emolument.  But  none  of 
these  things  should  move  them.  If  you  go  abroad, 
hold  on  to  your  work  until  the  Lord  Himself  separates 
you  from  it. 

If  then  the  Christian  student  finds  that  he  is  of  sound 
health;  of  proper  age;  willing  to  go  where  God  shall 
call ;  hopeful ;  patient ;  with  good  common  sense ;  tract- 
able; thoroughly  trained;  of  settled  religious  views; 
willing  to  go  to  the  most  trying  climate  and  the  most 
difficult  language;  ready  to  love  the  humblest  and  the 
most  degraded;  and  to  make  his  work  a  life  service; 
it  is  evident  that  he  is  called  of  God  to  go.  He  needs 
no  voice  or  sign  from  heaven.     The  call  of  lost  men 


WHO  OUGHT  NOT  TO  GO  21 

and  the  command  of  Him  who  came  to  seek  and  save 
the  lost,  alike  urge  him  to  go. 

Let  such  a  Christian  ask  himself  these  questions : 
Has  the  religion  of  Christ  been  a  blessing  to  me?  Is 
it  adapted  to  all  men?  Does  the  unevangelized  world 
need  the  gospel  now  as  it  did  when  Christ  gave  His  last 
command?  Am  I  a  debtor  to  myself  alone?  Do  I 
owe  a  duty  only  to  my  own  family  or  my  own  country  ? 
Is  the  voice  of  Christ  still  ringing  with  the  command, 
"Go,  teach  all  nations"  ?  Are  the  heathen  still  crying, 
"Come  and  help  us"?  If  I  am  Christian  should  I 
not  be  like  Christ?  If  I  am  soldier  should  I  not  obey 
marching  orders?  If  I  am  a  workman  should  I  not 
make  the  best  use  of  my  life  ?  If  I  am  a  scholar,  should 
I  not  make  my  education  most  effective?  Where  am 
I  most  needed  to-day? 

Can  a  fair-minded  Christian  young  man  or  woman 
then  fail  to  consider  these  questions  honestly?  It  is 
not  honest  to  shut  our  eyes  and  ears  and  disclaim  all 
responsibility.  We  shall  thus  only  postpone  the  inevi- 
table day  of  reckoning.  Be  honest  to  yourself;  honest 
to  your  Saviour,  honest  to  your  perishing  fellow-men ! 

It  is  wise  to  settle  it  while  you  are  engaged  in  your 
course  of  study.  If  you  can  do  it  while  in  college  or 
high  school  so  much  the  better.  If  you  have  sufficient 
reason  to  justify  your  remaining  at  home  it  will  always 
be  a  blessing  to  you  that  you  considered  the  question 
ot  duty  fairly,  fully  and  faithfully.  You  will  be  more 
useful  as  a  pastor  at  home,  if  you  were  willing  to  go, 
and  found  yourself  detained  at  home  by  the  constraints 
of  the  Divine  Providence.  But  do  not  think  that  such 
a  question  can  be  decided  without  a  struggle.  The 
thought  of  a  life  separation  from  home  and  friends  and 


22  WHO  OUGHT  NOT  TO  GO 

country,  from  father  and  mother,  brothers  and  sisters, 
will  cost  you  many  a  pang.  And  the  thought  of  what 
they  will  suffer  will  be  more  bitter  than  any  anxiety 
about  yourself.  You  may  have  had  cherished  ambi- 
tions, even  in  the  thought  of  the  Christian  ministry  at 
home.  These  must  be  set  aside.  Am  I  willing  to  give 
up  all  for  Christ?  Where  will  you  decide  this  ques- 
tion? There  is  but  one  place — on  your  knees  before 
your  Saviour,  in  prayer,  in  holy,  rapt  communion  with 
Him.  Let  Him  into  the  secret  council  chamber  of  your 
soul,  set  Him  on  the  throne,  ask  His  decision,  His 
counsel,  His  help,  His  command.  Then  all  will  be 
right,  and  you  need  not  fear  to  go  ahead  in  the  strength 
of  God  to  this  blessed  and  glorious  service. 


ESSENTIAL  SPIRITUAL  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE 
VOLUNTEER 

RT.   REV.   M.    S.   BALDWIN,   D.D.,   BISHOP   OF   HURON 

There  is  a  modern  astronomer  who  tells  us  that  this 
planet  of  ours  consumes  only  the  two-hundred-mil- 
lionth part  of  all  the  rays  which  issue  from  the  sun, 
and  we  can  none  of  us  believe  that  in  the  economy  of 
nature  a  beam  of  light  is  ever  lost.  There  are  other 
planets  they  must  illuminate,  other  fields  they  must 
fructify,  other  plants  they  must  nurse  into  exquisite 
beauty  and  loveliness ;  and  the  question  comes  :  Does 
the  whole  church  throughout  the  world  consume  as, 
much  as  the  two-hundred-millionth  part  of  all  the  full- 
ness that  is  in  Christ?  No,  by  no  means.  He  is  the 
brightness  of  His  Father's  Glory  and  the  express 
image  of  His  Person.  In  Him  dwelleth  all  the  full- 
ness of  the  Godhead  bodily,  and  all  that  we  can  take 
is  but  a  drop  in  the  ocean  of  His  grace.  The  super- 
abundance that  we  cannot  possibly  use  is  for  the  dying 
world  about  us ;  for  the  uncounted  millions  who  are 
sinking  on  every  side,  unsaved,  unknown,  unwept  for 
want  of  that  glorious  gospel  of  which  we  have  not 
only  enough,  but  abundantly  to  spare.  Such  being  the 
case,  the  important  question  at  once  arises :  Who  are 
the  fit  men  to  preach  the  gospel  to  a  dying  world? 


'Report  Student  Volunteer  Convention,  Cleveland,  i! 
23 


24  ESSENTIAL  SPIRITUAL  QUALIFICATIONS 

They  are,  first,  those  whom  God  the  Holy  Ghost  has 
called. 

The  first  mission  the  Gentile  church  ever  sent  forth 
was  from  Antioch.  On  that  occasion  the  Holy  Ghost 
said:  "Separate  Me  Barnabas  and  Saul  for  the  work 
whereunto  I  have  called  them."  We  cannot  fail  to 
notice  that  the  Eternal  Spirit  in  His  infinite  wisdom 
first  chose  these  holy  men,  then  called  them,  then  en- 
dowed them  with  superabounding  grace,  then  sent 
them  forth  to  sow  the  seed  and  reap  the  harvests  of 
the  Lord.  Who  were  these  men?  They  were,  first  of 
all,  men  who  had  set  their  seal  that  God  was  true.  St. 
John  says:  "He  that  hath  received  His  witness  hath 
set  his  seal  to  this,  that  God  is  true."  In  the  midst  of 
a  crooked  and  troubled  world,  with  paganism  and  in- 
fidelity on  every  side,  these  men  had  set  their  seal  to 
the  testimony  of  God  the  Father,  concerning  His  Son, 
our  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  They  not  only  believed  that 
testimony  themselves,  but  they  exhorted  all  others  with 
whom  they  came  in  contact  to  do  the  same.  They 
lifted  up  their  voices  throughout  the  highways  of  the 
world,  and  said  to  those  who  sat  in  darkness:  Your 
idols  are  a  lie,  your  philosophy  a  sham,  your  power 
weakness,  your  life  a  breath.  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world.  Repent, 
believe,  be  saved.  They  affixed  their  seal  to  God's 
truth  by  saying  Christ  alone  was  the  Truth.  They 
showed  the  reality  of  this  faith  by  laying  down  their 
whole  being  in  attestation  of  it.  Dear  students,  be 
assured  God  will  not  choose  those  who  are  airing  their 
doubts  as  to  the  eternal  truthfulness  of  His  inspired 
Word.  If  you  belong  to  what  is  called  the  destructive 
school   of   criticism   and   think   you   have   discovered 


ESSENTIAL  SPIRITUAL  QUALIFICATIONS  25 

cracks  and  flaws  and  fissures  in  the  Bible,  no  doubt 
you  may  hereafter  be  chosen  to  minister  to  some 
splendid  church  where  the  stipend  will  be  beyond  the 
dream  of  avarice,  and  cushioned  splendor  lie  in  rich 
profusion  all  about  you,  but  certainly  God  will  not 
choose  you  for  the  foreign  field.  He  only  wants  those 
who  set  their  seal  that  God  is  true.  Again,  they  were 
men  who  were  themselves  sealed  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
They  were  so  filled  with  His  holy  presence,  and  so 
enriched  with  all  His  precious  fruits  and  glorious 
charismata  that  men  took  knowledge  of  men  that  they 
had  been  with  Jesus.  Whatever  inward  joys  God's 
sealing  bestows  upon  the  individual  Christian,  its  out- 
ward manifestation  to  the  world  is  the  miracle  of  a 
life  in  union  with  the  ascended  Christ,  and  rejoicing 
in  that  divine  liberty  from  sin  which  was  forever  ef- 
fected on  the  cross.  Grace  dwelt  within  and  the  glory 
of  God  shone  down  upon  them.  They  had  not  only 
life,  but  life  abounding.  Dear  young  men  and  women, 
the  unction  of  the  Holy  One  is  what  you  need  most. 
Without  this  your  ministry  will  be  "as  idle  as  a  painted 
ship  upon  a  painted  ocean."  With  this  it  will  be  the 
ministry  of  power.  "Tarry  ye  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem 
until  ye  be  endowed  with  power,"  was  the  Saviour's 
command  at  the  first ;  it  is  His  command  now.  It  is  a 
power  you  cannot  obtain  from  schools  of  learning,  from 
the  lips  of  the  wise  or  the  precepts  of  man.  You  can 
only  obtain  this  power  in  one  place,  and  that  is  alone 
with  God  at  a  throne  of  grace.  There,  in  deep  solitude 
with  Him,  resting  believingly  on  the  availing  interces- 
sion of  our  great  Melchizedek  Priest,  ask  and  ye  shall 
receive,  seek  and  ye  shall  find,  for  "if  ye  then,  being 
eril,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children, 


2  6  ESSENTIAL  SPIRITUAL  QUALIFICATIONS 

how  much  more  shall  your  heavenly  Father  give  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  Him  ?" 

Secondly,  God  chooses  a  man  who  believes  himself 
unfit  for  the  work  given  him  to  do. 

God  never  wants  the  self-sufficient.  They  are  not 
the  material  He  wishes  to  employ.  St.  Paul  gives  us 
a  marvelous  list  of  the  extraordinary  forces  which 
God  employs  for  the  discomfiture  of  the  world.  They 
are  five  in  number :  The  foolish  things  that  He  might 
put  to  shame  them  that  are  wise ;  the  weak  things  that 
He  might  put  to  shame  the  things  that  are  strong ;  the 
base  things,  and  the  things  that  are  despised  did  God 
choose ;  yea,  and  the  things  that  are  not,  that  He  might 
bring  to  naught  the  things  that  are.  When  we  through 
grace  reach  the  point  that  we  esteem  ourselves  as  noth- 
ing we  are  eligible  for  God's  eternal  election. 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  Moses  at  the  dawn  of 
his  manhood.  He  felt  perfectly  sure  in  his  own  mind 
that  he  was  just  the  man  to  lead  Israel  out  of  Egypt. 
He  had  great  learning.  He  was  taught  in  all  the  wis- 
dom of  Egypt.  He  had  been  brought  up  in  the  court 
of  Pharaoh.  What  could  he  possibly  want  more? 
Acting  on  this  assumption,  he  proceeds  to  the  vindica- 
tion of  his  people,  only  to  learn  that  he  had  to  fly  the 
country  and  escape  for  his  life.  God's  plans  were 
deeper  far.  He  sends  him  to  school  for  forty  years 
in  Midian,  there  to  learn  God's  power  and  his  own 
nothingness.  Forty  years  is  a  long  time — longer  far 
than  any  of  you  propose  to  spend  at  college — yet  I  am 
sure  it  was  all  needed  before  the  man  Moses  was  fitted 
for  God's  work. 

At  last  the  time  for  action  came,  and  as  he  is  tend- 
ing his   flock  he   sees   a   strange   and   unprecedented 


ESSENTIAL  SPIRITUAL  QUALIFICATIONS  27 

sight — a  thorn  bush  and  a  fire.  The  fire  was  within 
the  bush,  and  the  bush  was  not  consumed.  Two 
antithetical  truths  were  here  before  his  eyes.  The  bush 
was  to  represent  the  weakness  of  man,  the  fire  the 
omnipotence  of  God.  The  bush  itself  was  the  dry 
acacia  of  the  wilderness,  almost  valueless,  but  a  fit 
figure  of  Moses — a  fit  figure  indeed  of  every  man  that 
God  intends  for  service.  Only  a  poor  thorn  bush  in 
a  dry  and  desert  world.  On  the  other  side,  there  is 
the  fire,  emblem  of  consuming  power  and  disintegrat- 
ing might.  This  is  not  all.  The  fire  is  in  the  bush 
and  the  bush  is  not  consumed.  What  was  the  lesson 
God  intended  him  to  learn?  The  fire  in  the  bush  was 
infinite  strength  dwelling  in  utter  weakness.  God,  the 
omnipotent  One,  was  about  to  dwell  in  the  poor  thorn 
bush  Moses,  and  make  him  efficient  for  his  holy  work. 
Now,  fire  has  many  qualities.  In  the  darkness  it  will 
illuminate,  in  cold  will  warm,  in  contamination  purify 
and  in  might  consume.  Here,  God  said  to  Moses :  It 
is  quite  true  you  are  all  weakness  and  irresolution; 
only,  as  the  thorn  bush,  a  thing  of  naught,  but  I  am 
with  thee,  and  My  power  shall  supply  all  thy  need. 
Young  men  and  women,  it  is  the  same  to-day.  God 
prizes  most  those  who  only  esteem  themselves  as  weak 
and  helpless  as  the  thorn  bush.  God,  not  you,  will  be 
the  fire.  You  want  to  feel  fit.  He  wants  you  to  feel 
unfit;  our  extremity  is  always  His  opportunity.  A 
modern  expositor  has  pointed  out  that  the  man  who 
was  given  the  greatest  work  in  the  Old  Testament 
dispensation  was  a  man  who  offered  no  less  than  seven 
objections  to  prove  his  own  unfitness.  Certainly  he 
was  wrong  in  making  any  objections  when  God  gave 
the  command,  but  the  facts  prove  the  lowly  estimate 


28  ESSENTIAL    SPIRITUAL    QUALIFICATIONS 

Moses  had  of  himself  and  the  high  regard  in  which 
he  was  held  by  God. 

Goliath  clothed  himself  with  an  immense  amount 
of  armor.  His  spear  was  like  a  weaver's  beam  and 
his  sword  a  terror  to  his  foes,  but  what  did  it  all  effect? 
Absolutely  nothing.  A  smooth  stone  in  the  sling  of  a 
youth  who  went  against  him  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
felled  him  like  a  cedar.  And  so  it  always  will  be.  If 
you  are  going  forth  in  the  presence  and  power  of 
God,  it  matters  not  how  high  are  the  walls,  or  how 
mighty  the  Anakim,  all  opposition  will  give  way 
before  you. 

Thirdly,  another  and  most  important  qualification 
is  that  we  should  bear  the  image  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  our  life  and  character. 

The  most  stupendous  and  irrefragable  proof  of  the 
truth  of  Christianity  is  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  Himself. 
Infidels,  who  have  rejected  all  revelation,  find  them- 
selves at  a  loss  to  explain  the  solitary  grandeur,  the 
sublime  character,  the  divine  teaching  of  this  to  them 
Mysterious  One.  The  one  question  that  they  cannot 
possibly  answer  is  this:  If  Christianity  is  not  true, 
who  in  the  past  ever  invented  the  character,  spake  the 
words  and  did  the  works  of  this  infinitely  Holy  One? 
Chadwick,  in  answering  these  infidels,  asks :  "Did  this 
eagle,  with  sun-sustaining  eyes,  emerge  from  the  slime 
of  the  age  of  Tiberius,  the  basest  age  in  history? 
Whence  is  the  trumpet,  and  whose  is  the  breath  in  it, 
which  has  blown  that  dying  supplication  round  the 
world  and  down  the  ages :  'Come  unto  Me,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest'?  Who  built  the  throne,  and  reared  the 
pillars  of  it,  which  knows  no  change  amid  the  revolu- 
tions of  centuries?    'Truly  this  was  the  Son  of  God.' 


ESSENTIAL  SPIRITUAL  QUALIFICATIONS  29 

Christ,  our  Divine  Redeemer,  is  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness and  if  you  bring  a  blind  man  out  at  midday  and 
find  that  he  is  utterly  unable  to  see  the  sun  shining  in 
its  strength,  it  is  idle  to  bring  him  out  at  midnight  to 
see  whether  he  can  see  Vega  or  Capella."  And,  dear 
students,  it  is  this  mysterious,  sublime  Christ;  this 
effulgence  of  His  Father's  glory  and  express  image 
of  His  person  we  are  to  resemble.  Not  some  glowing 
seraph  who  stands  beside  His  throne,  not  some  great 
archangel  who  flies  to  do  His  will ;  but  like  Him  who 
is  the  chiefest  among  ten  thousand  and  the  altogether 
lovely.  Now,  when  you  go  to  the  heathen  to  preach 
the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  your  words  have  to  be 
the  words  of  Jesus  and  your  character  the  character 
of  Jesus.  Your  words  will  be  only  weighty  when  they 
see  Christ  shining  out  of  you.  Now,  what  was  the 
appearance  of  Christ?  St.  John  tells  us  that  he  saw 
our  Lord  when  the  heavens  were  opened,  and  that  by 
the  throne  He  stood — a  "Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain." 
Now  we  ourselves  never  saw  a  man  who  had  been 
dead  and  was  raised  to  life  again,  but  when  St.  John 
saw  our  Lord  He  bore  the  marks  of  death.  He  not 
only  looked  like  a  "Lamb,"  but  as  one  that  had  been 
slain  and  was  risen  to  life  again.  To  be  like  Christ, 
therefore,  is  to  look  like  one  who  has  died,  been  buried 
and  raised  to  life  again  in  the  image  of  His  resurrec- 
tion. How  many  of  us  look  like  those  who  have  died 
and  been  buried?  What  the  world  sees  is  the  old 
unslain  natural  life,  and  unsatisfied  they  turn  away 
and  say:  "Is  this  Christianity?"  That  which  im- 
presses men  when  they  see  and  hear  us  is  the  human; 
what  impressed  men  when  they  saw  and  heard  Christ 
was  the  Divine.     Now,  whv  is  this?    It  is  because  so 


3°  ESSENTIAL  SPIRITUAL  QUALIFICATIONS 

many  professing  Christians  exhibit  in  their  daily  life 
the  old  unslain  natural  man,  with  all  his  sins  and  evil 
propensities.  When  they  are  offended  the  law  of  the 
jungle  obtains.  Blow  is  met  by  blow,  insult  by  insult, 
wrong  by  wrong.  When  self-interest  is  concerned, 
trickiness  in  trade,  deceit  and  fraud  betray  the  exist- 
ence of  that  nature  to  which  by  profession  they  are 
dead.  What  the  world  needs  is  to  see  a  man  abso- 
lutely dead  to  the  mind  of  the  flesh — a  man  who  will 
give  good  for  evil,  a  blessing  for  a  curse,  a  prayer  for 
a  blow ;  in  other  words,  the  character  of  Christ,  which 
is  divine,  and  not  his  own,  which  is  human.  People 
are  never  so  impressed  as  when  they  see  God  in  you. 
They  may  doubt  your  arguments,  dispute  your  con- 
clusions and  oppose  your  progress,  but  in  some  way 
they  will  believe  in  you.  And  when  you  place  a  mis- 
sionary, with  the  character  of  the  Lord  Jesus  manifest 
in  him,  amid  all  the  impurity,  idolatry  and  shams  of 
heathenism,  he  shines  like  a  meteor  in  the  midnight 
sky.  It  is  not  only  what  he  says,  but  how  he  lives; 
his  life  is  to  them  a  miracle.  If  you  are  to  do  the  work 
of  the  Lord,  live  much  in  His  presence,  bury  yourself 
in  His  infinite  fullness  and  there  stay  until  when  at 
last  you  go  forth  on  His  errand,  people  will  say: 
"These  men  look  like  those  who  have  died  forever  unto 
sin  and  risen  again  unto  righteousness — look  like  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  If  some  of  you  ask,  How  can  we 
become  like  Christ?  I  answer:  Kneeling  down,  in  the 
solitude  of  your  room,  plead  this  promise:  "Whom 
He  did  foreknow  He  also  did  predestinate  to  be  con- 
formed to  the  image  of  His  Son."  It  is  God's  eternal 
purpose  to  make  you — not  like  the  beloved  John,  the 
mighty  Paul  or  even  like  some  glorious  seraph  near 


ESSENTIAL  SPIRITUAL  QUALIFICATIONS  3 1 

His  throne — but  like  Him  that  sits  upon  the  throne; 
like  Jesus  Christ  Himself. 

Fourthly,  another  qualification  is  that  those  who  go 
forth  should  understand  thoroughly  what  their  mes- 
sage is. 

They  are  to  understand  first  of  all  that  the  gospel 
is  a  message;  not  a  scheme  of  philosophy,  not  a  vast 
system  of  human  reasoning,  not  a  poem  or  guesses  at 
the  truth,  but  a  simple  message  sent  down  by  God  in 
heaven  to  man  on  earth.  The  message  is:  "God  so 
loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  Only  Begotten  Son 
that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish  but 
have  everlasting  life."  This  they  are  to  proclaim.  No 
human  mind  can  understand  the  Infinite,  and  there 
may  be  many  deep  things  in  Revelation  which  we  can- 
not now  fully  grasp,  but  we  can  all  give  a  message. 
A  fact  people  forget  is  this :  We  are  not  advocates. 
The  advocate  of  the  Father  is  the  Son,  and  the  advo- 
cate of  the  Son  is  the  Holy  Ghost.  An  advocate  is  a 
much  higher  being  than  a  mere  witness;  an  advocate 
has  to  be  one  learned  in  the  law,  but  a  witness  may 
be  a  poor,  unlettered  man.  He  has  not  to  explain  law ; 
he  has  to  witness  to  a  fact.  Now  God  says :  "Ye  are 
My  witnesses."  God  the  Son  will  vindicate  to  the 
uttermost  God  the  Father;  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost 
will  vindicate  to  the  uttermost  God  the  Son.  We  are 
to  say:  "God  is  light  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at 
all" — that  all  truth  dwells  in  Him,  and  that  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  has  been  lifted  up  upon  the  cross  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  Him  might  have  everlasting 
life. 

They  are  to  have  no  hesitating  message,  but  one 
clear  statement  to  a  dying  world — Christ  and  Christ 


32  ESSENTIAL  SPIRITUAL  QUALIFICATIONS 

only.  They  are  to  tell  the  heathen  that  the  most 
precious  thing  in  the  whole  world  is  the  precious  blood 
of  Christ;  that  Christ  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost 
all  that  come  unto  Him,  and  that  He  is  the  Rest  where- 
with God  causes  the  weary  to  rest,  and  He  is  their 
refreshing. 


THREEFOLD    PREPARATION    FOR    FOREIGN     MIS- 
SIONARY  WORK1 

REV.  JACOB  CHAMBERLAIN,  M.D.,  D.D.,  OF  INDIA 

The  preparation  should  be  threefold :  Of  body,  of 
mind,  of  heart;    or,  physical,  intellectual,  spiritual. 

I.  The  first  of  these  often  receives  far  too  little  at- 
tention. Many  a  consecrated  student,  in  college  or 
professional  school,  gives  himself  with  intense  earnest- 
ness to  his  studies  and  to  his  religious  duties,  both 
closet  and  public,  while  paying  scant  attention — or 
none  at  all — to  the  cultivation  of  his  physique.  This 
is  a  mistake :  it  is  a  crime.  Under  the  Mosaic  dis- 
pensation, the  sacrifice  looking  to  the  coming  Messiah 
was  to  be  a  lamb  without  physical  blemish.  So  should 
our  offering  to  that  risen  Messiah  be  a  body  with  all 
the  powers  He  has  given  thoroughly  developed  for  His 
sake,  for  His  service. 

I  do  not  say  that  the  best  athlete  always  makes  the 
best  missionary,  but  I  do  say  that  the  careful,  tem- 
perate training  of  a  college  athlete  will  necessarily  fit 
that  man  for  more  royal  service  in  God's  foreign  war 
than  if  he  had  moped  along  in  inactivity  and  lack  of 
physical  culture,  while  giving  all  his  thought  to  the 
intellectual  and  spiritual.  Indeed,  physical  prowess 
alwavs  stands  the  missionary  on  the  field  in  good  stead, 


lThe  Inter  collegian,  New  York,  December,  1900. 
33 


34  THREEFOLD    PREPARATION 

and  often  saves  him  for  farther  service.  When,  be- 
cause of  the  conversion  of  a  young  Brahman  whom 
I  knew,  the  mob  sought  his  life  and  that  of  the  mis- 
sionary, and,  though  not  daring  to  strike  a  blow, 
sought  to  hustle  them  to  death,  the  football  tactics  of 
the  stalwart  young  missionary,  which  he  had  practised 
when  captain  of  his  university  team,  enabled  him  to 
get  himself  and  the  convert  through  the  mob  to  a  place 
of  safety. 

The  missionary  may  oft-times  be  called  upon  to 
undergo  great  physical  toil,  endurance,  and  privation, 
and  with  a  physique  well  developed  he  can  render  far 
better  service — yes,  use  to  far  better  advantage — his 
intellectual  and  spiritual  gifts.  Not  only  mens  sana 
is  needed,  but,  for  the  most  royal  service,  it  should 
be  in  cor  pore  sano. 

To  every  student  volunteer  I  would  say:  Take 
plenty  of  vigorous  exercise;  cultivate  every  physical 
power  to  its  best;  look  well  to  your  digestion.  Some 
dyspeptic  missionaries  have,  it  is  true,  done  excellent 
service;  but  they  have  done  it  in  spite  of  their  dys- 
pepsia, and,  but  for  it,  could  have  done  far  better. 
With  all,  cultivate  a  cheerful  disposition.  It  can  be 
cultivated.  It  will  be  needed.  Cynics  do  not  accom- 
plish much  as  missionaries.  Do  not  be  afraid  of  a 
good  healthy,  hearty  laugh.  I  knew  a  consecrated 
missionary  of  whom  it  was  said,  "He  died  because  he 
could  not  laugh."  He  always  took  a  gloomy  view  of 
things.  He  could  see  no  humor  in  anything.  He  sank 
under  the  climate  and  died.  A  good  hearty  laugh 
now  and  then  might  have  enabled  him  to  throw  off 
depressing  symptoms  and  disease,  and  made  him  live 
longer  to  win  many  more  souls.    One  of  the  most  con- 


THREEFOLD   PREPARATION  35 

secrated,  spiritually  minded  missionaries  I  even  knew 
was  one  of  the  best  laughers. 

Beware  of  any  personal  habits  that  sap  the  vital 
energy.  These  are  insidious.  They  are  often  known 
to  one's  self  alone  and  to  his  God.  Each  one  must 
study  well  his  own  case,  and  hunt  them  out  for  the 
Master's  sake;  and  here  I  wish  to  say  a  word  on  a 
delicate  subject — the  use  of  tobacco.  I  am  not  a  crank 
on  that  subject.  I  willingly  admit  that  some  of  the 
most  spiritually  minded,  most  devoted  men  I  have 
known,  do  use  tobacco.  At  their  feet  would  I  gladly 
sit  and  learn,  but  not  learn  the  tobacco  habit;  for  I 
am  sure  that  it  would  stand  in  my  way  in  effective 
service  on  the  mission  field.  Indeed,  I  have  known 
even  devoted  missionaries  in  the  tropics  whose  ser- 
vice— yes,  whose  lives — have  been  declared  by  their 
physicians  to  have  been  cut  short  by  that  habit.  It 
is  more  seductive  in  a  tropical  climate  than  in  a  cold, 
and  the  very  loneliness,  often,  of  a  missionary's  life 
in  any  foreign  land  encourages  it.  Many  a  missionary 
who  has  come  out  to  the  field  a  smoker  have  I  known 
to  give  it  up  there,  for  Christ's  sake,  and  for  years 
after  to  feel  the  satisfaction  of  doing  better  work  be- 
cause of  giving  it  up.  To  any  prospective  missionary 
who  has  formed,  or  is  forming,  the  habit  I  would,  with 
all  brotherly  earnestness  and  love,  say,  "Don't."  Be 
pure  in  all  things :  "Know  ye  not  that  your  body  is 
the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost?"  The  temple  of  God 
must  be  pure  and  holy. 

2.  The  intellectual  preparation  should  be  the  very 
best  attainable.  We  are,  none  of  us,  responsible  for 
the  amount  of  intellectual  ability  with  which  we  have 
been  endowed,  but  we  are  responsible  for  its  thorough 


36  THREEFOLD    PREPARATION 

culture.  The  intellect  is  the  mighty  weapon  which 
we  are  to  wield  for  Christ.  We  should  sharpen  it, 
develop  it,  strengthen  it  to  our  utmost.  When  I  was 
about  to  enter  college,  my  sainted  mother,  having  first 
consecrated  me  to  the  missionary  work,  thus  charged 
me :  "My  son,  if  you  are  to  be  a  missionary,  you  must 
stand  high  in  scholarship.  Do  not  let  it  be  said  that 
seconds  are  palmed  off  upon  the  Lord  for  missionary 
service."  It  was  good  advice.  I  pass  it  on  to  you. 
If  any  man  needs  to  be  well  equipped,  it  is  the  mis- 
sionary. He  often  has  intellectual  giants  to  contend 
with,  and  though  he  has  the  promise,  and  now  and 
again  realizes  the  fulfillment  of  it,  "I  will  be  with  thy 
mouth  and  teach  thee  what  thou  shalt  say,"  God 
gave  not  that  promise  to  encourage  intellectual  lazi- 
ness either  in  preparation  for,  or  in  fulfilling,  His 
commission. 

The  missionary  should  be  a  well-read,  well-equipped, 
"all-round"  man,  obtaining  all  the  knowledge  he  can 
on  all  subjects.  History,  science,  philosophy,  psychol- 
ogy, mathematics,  languages,  poetry,  travel,  geogra- 
phy, art,  mechanics — everything  will  come  into  use 
on  the  missionary  field.  Fiction  even,  should  not  be 
entirely  avoided,  but  it  should  be  utilized  judiciously, 
temperately.  We  have  all  known  students  whose  col- 
lege standing  was  much  lowered  by  excessive  novel- 
reading.  Alas,  I  have  known  missionaries  on  the  field 
of  whom  it  has  been  said,  and  I  fear  justly,  that  their 
work  and  their  influence  was  much  lessened  by  the 
excessive  reading  of  novels!  In  reading  fiction  choose 
only  the  best,  and  read  with  moderation  and  thought. 
It  will  then  be  not  harmful,  but  helpful. 

The  studv  of  other  religious  systems,  especially  of 


THREEFOLD   PREPARATION  37 

the  country  where  one's  missionary  life  is  to  be  spent, 
should  by  no  means  be  neglected.  We  should  at  once 
dismiss  the  thought  that  there  is  no  truth  to  be  found 
in  non-Christian  systems.  God  has  not  left  Himself 
without  a  witness  in  any  age  or  nation.  Zealously 
culling  all  that  we  can  of  truth  in  that  system  we  are 
combating,  we  should  utilize  that  truth  as  a  common 
ground  on  which  to  stand  in  pointing  out  how  Chris- 
tianity, with  its  loving  God  the  Father,  its  atoning  God 
the  Son,  its  enlightening,  sanctifying  God  the  Spirit, 
supplies  what  is  still  lacking  in  their  system,  and  puts 
a  capstone  on  all  the  truth  contained  in  all  the  systems, 
and  is  itself  alone  able  to  raise  the  sinful  soul  to  God. 

Here  let  me  give  a  word  of  caution  and  of  cheer. 
Many  a  prospective  volunteer  has  held  back  because  of 
a  fear  that  he,  or  she,  will  not  be  able  to  acquire  the 
language  of  the  country  to  which  they  would  be  sent. 
That  is  a  bugbear  put  forward  by  Satan  to  frighten  off 
recruits  whom  he  does  not  want  sent. 

Can  an  uneducated  Scandinavian,  German  or  Pole, 
who  comes  to  America  to  better  himself,  acquire  that 
most  difficult  of  languages,  the  English,  so  as  to  use 
it  not  only  in  trade,  but  in  social  intercourse  as  well — 
many  becoming  very  fluent  in  its  use — and  shall  we, 
the  educated  children  of  the  King,  fear  to  go  to  any 
land  to  which  He  calls  us,  to  attack  any  language  His 
children  there  speak,  that  we  may  tell  those  wandering 
sons  and  daughters  the  way  back  to  Him?  One  who 
goes  thus,  goes  not  at  his  own  charges.  God,  who 
formed  the  ear,  the  tongue,  will  help  the  ear  to  catch, 
the  tongue  to  enunciate,  the  memory  to  retain  the 
strange  sounds  until  they  become  the  familiar  mes- 
sengers of  the  message  of  love.     No  one  who  has  the 


38  THREEFOLD    PREPARATION 

ability  to  obtain  an  education  at  home  need  fear  to 
attack  any  missionary  language  if  he  or  she  is  willing 
to  do  it  energetically,  persistently,  prayerfully,  as  unto 
the  Lord.  For  a  missionary  has  a  right  to  pray  over 
the  grammar  and  the  sounds  and  the  idiom  of  his  new- 
language,  and  to  count  on  God's  helping  him  to  con- 
quer it.    I  speak  that  I  do  know. 

3.  We  discuss,  last,  preparation  of  the  heart,  not 
because  it  is  the  least  important,  but  the  most;  for  the 
missionary  work  demands  men  and  women  of  strong 
faith,  who  have  learned  to  take  God  at  His  word,  and 
to  rely  implicitly  upon  it. 

"Brother  Lawrence"  never  uttered  a  truer  word 
than  when  he  spoke  of  "the  practice  of  the  presence 
of  God"  as  a  reality  and  as  a  thing  to  be  zealously 
cultivated.  A  missionary  who  does  not  believe  in  the 
literal  truth  of  Christ's  promise  which  was  coupled 
with  His  commission,  "Go  ye,"  viz.,  "Lo,  I  am  with 
you  alway,"  misses  much  of  his  possible  power.  That 
presence  becomes  very  real  at  times.  On  one  occasion, 
when  I  stood  facing  an  angry  mob  in  a  large  city  in 
a  native  state,  who  were  gathering  stones  to  put  an 
end  to  "those  preachers  of  another  God,"  the  presence 
of  the  Christ  at  my  side  seemed  very  real.  I  could 
almost  feel  His  hand  upon  my  shoulder  as  He  whis- 
pered, "Say  this,  and  they  will  listen";  "Say  that,  and 
they  will  hear."  And  when  the  mob  had  become  an 
audience,  and  had  with  deep  attention  listened  to  the 
story  of  redeeming  love,  I  felt  that  it  was  not  I  that 
had  been  speaking — for  no  words  of  mine  could  have 
quelled  that  mob — but  that  the  Saviour's  word  had 
been  fulfilled,  "For  it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the 
Spirit  of  your  Father  that  speaketh  in  you."    Mission- 


THREEFOLD   PREPARATION  39 

aries  of  to-day  in  India,  China,  Turkey,  in  all  the 
world,  need,  and  should  learn  it  young,  to  take  God 
at  His  word. 

To  do  this,  one  must  be  a  diligent  student  of  God's 
Book.  That  is  God's  secret  place,  where  we  may  al- 
ways find  Him,  and  "He  that  dwelleth  in  the  secret 
place  of  the  Most  High  shall  abide  under  the  shadow 
of  the  Almighty."  Ay,  there  are  we  safe  and  strong. 
Those  who  have  studied  Greek  will  do  well  to  make 
a  specialty  of  Biblical  Greek,  and  to  make  the  New 
Testament  in  the  original,  containing  the  very  words 
used  by  our  Saviour  and  His  apostles,  their  daily  de- 
votional reading.  I  speak  from  a  life  experience  when 
I  tell  what  new  and  helpful  ideas  one  thus  daily  finds 
in  his  closet  reading  of  his  Greek  Testament. 

Take  the  whole  Bible  with  you  to  India,  to  China, 
to  Japan.  No  emasculated  substitute  will  there  answer 
your  purpose.  When  the  Revised  English  Bible  first 
appeared,  an  old  lady  went  to  a  book-store  and  inno- 
cently inquired  of  the  clerk  if  he  had  any  copies  of  the 
"Reversed  Bible."  No  reversed  Bible  does  for  us  on 
heathen  soil.  Christ,  the  one  atoning  Saviour,  the 
God-man,  whom  Paul  preached  with  all  his  hard  doc- 
trines, is  the  only  one  who  can  lift  up  the  heathen  of 
to-day.  The  missionary  needs  the  whole  panoply  of 
God. 

Cultivate  an  intense  love  for  the  Saviour  and  for 
your  fellow-man.  It  is  not  the  one  who  reaches  down 
with  tongs  to  take  hold  and  says,  "You  poor  wretches, 
come  up  out  of  that  pit  of  mire,"  but  the  one  who 
clasps  the  hand  of  his  brother-man  as  a  brother  and 
says,  "Come  with  me  and  I  will  do  thee  good,"  that 
will  succeed  as  a  missionary. 


40  THREEFOLD    PREPARATION 

Finally,  in  all  this  preparation,  in  all  this  service, 
let  us  "ask  great  things  of  God,  expect  great  things 
from  God,"  and  we  shall  not  be  disappointed.  God 
will  fulfill  His  word  to  us,  in  us,  by  us,  and  when  our 
missionary  career  is  over,  be  it  long  or  be  it  short,  the 
ecstatic  words  will  greet  our  glad  ears,  "Well  done, 
thou  good  and  faithful  servant."  More  than  this,  no 
human  heart  could  crave. 


QUALIFICATIONS  DESIRED  IN   MISSIONARY  CAN- 
DIDATES AS  INDICATED  BY  A  TOUR 
OF  THE  FIELDS  l 

ROBERT  E.  SPEER,  M.A.,  NEW  YORK 

The  conditions  under  which  the  foreign  missionary 
does  his  work  have  a  great  influence  on  character.  He 
is  alone,  among  people  of  standing  inferior  to  his.  It 
is  true  that  in  some  countries  there  are  many  who  affect 
to  despise  him ;  Mohammedan  mollahs,  Confucian 
scholars,  Hindu  priests,  Japanese  of  different  sorts — 
but  most  of  these  have  at  bottom  a  real  respect  for  him. 
Even  where  he  disavows  and  denies  it,  he  is  still  re- 
garded as  a  representative  of  the  powerful  and  pitiless 
Western  nations  which  are  back  of  him  with  mailed 
hands. 

Yet,  though  respected,  and  by  the  common  people 
and  the  poor  often  unduly  exalted,  he  is  isolated.  He 
has  come  with  something  to  give.  So  coming,  he  as- 
serts his  superiority.  Yet  no  influence  about  him  con- 
tributes to  feeding  the  springs  from  which  his  superi- 
ority flows.  There  is  much  to  encourage  dictatorial- 
ness,  dogmatic  assertiveness,  slothfulness,  spiritual  in- 
dolence, mere  formality  of  service,  weakening  of  moral 
fibre  and  tone,  degeneration  of  standard  and  ideal  for 
self  and  others,   a  general   professionalism   of  work 


"The  Student  Volunteer,  New  York,  March,  i\ 
4i 


42  QUALIFICATIONS  DESIRED  IN  CANDIDATES 

touched  with  kindness  and  forced  conscientiousness 
and  a  little  despondency.  Missionaries  testify  to  the 
reality  of  these  perils.  The  men  and  women  who  go 
to  the  mission  field  must  be  able  to  stand  against  them. 
The  ability  to  stand  can  not  be  acquired  by  mere  geo- 
graphical transplanting.  Whoever  would  resist  all 
such  temptations  must  have  the  qualifications  therefor 
in  this  country  before  ever  setting  forth  on  his  mission. 
And  on  the  positive  side  the  missionary  should  be 
able  to  make  a  definite  spiritual  impression  on  the  lives 
of  men,  many  of  whom  have  been  devoid  of  all  save 
the  most  elementary  spiritual  notions,  and  to  whom 
all  our  spiritual  world  with  its  ideas  is  unintelligible. 
Perhaps  even  words  are  lacking  in  which  to  express 
our  notions.  Or  old  systems  of  belief  are  to  be  con- 
fronted, whose  standards  run  fair  athwart  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Gospel,  and  have  in  some  cases  so  woven 
themselves  into  the  social  and  civil  life  of  the  people 
that  Christianity  is  literally  a  revolutionary  assault 
upon  the  very  foundations  of  their  institutions.  Prob- 
lems of  intricate  perplexity  need  to  be  solved.  Hard- 
ships, the  more  difficult  because  they  are  not  romantic 
and  bear  no  kinship  to  martyrdom,  must  be  endured. 
Hard,  trying  work  must  be  done.  Little  by  little, 
spiritual  impression  must  be  made;  surrounded  all 
the  time  by  the  grossest  materialism  and  superstition, 
the  spiritual  ideals  must  yet  never  be  clouded  or  lost 
for  an  instant.  The  people  of  the  world  are  ready  to 
have  their  bodies  cared  for,  and  to  be  put  in  the  way 
of  greater  material  prosperity.  They  do  not  wish  for 
spiritual  revolution  or  the  holiness  of  Christ.  The 
temptation  to  spend  life  in  giving  them  what  they  are 
willing  to  receive,  and  to  constrict  or  to  neglect  the 


QUALIFICATIONS  DESIRED  IN  CANDIDATES  43 

effort  to  give  them  what  they  need,  what  Christ  came 
that  they  might  receive,  the  Revelation  of  the  Father, 
the  Way,  the  Life  abundant,  the  Heavenly  Calling, 
what  our  mission  exists  for,  must  be  sternly  throttled. 
That  men  may  be  able  to  resist  these  temptations, 
and  do  the  vital  spiritual  work,  which  is  our  supreme 
business,  they  must  have  qualifications  of  character 
and  capacity,  assured  and  vindicated  here  before  they 
go.  And  among  these  qualifications  should  be  set  first, 
the  need  of  a  deep  and  holy  life.  There  are  two  words 
of  Christ  which  must  be  familiar  to  every  missionary 
and  which  should  have  been  received  and  absorbed 
into  the  life  by  the  missionary  candidate.  One  He 
spoke  first  to  the  woman  of  Sychar :  ''Whosoever  shall 
drink  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never 
thirst,  but  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  become 
in  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  unto  eternal  life." 
The  other  He  cried  as  He  stood  in  Jerusalem  on  the 
last,  the  great  day  of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles:  "If 
any  man  thirst  let  him  come  unto  Me  and  drink.  He 
that  believeth  on  Me  as  the  Scripture  hath  said,  out  of 
the  depths  of  his  life  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water." 
The  new  missionary  joins  some  little  company  of  men 
and  women  who  are  already  under  the  fullest  strain. 
He  dare  not  draw  on  them  for  spiritual  life.  There 
is  none  in  the  surrounding  hopeless,  lifeless  people. 
If  he  has  no  springs  within  him  where  the  Living 
Water  is  flowing,  woe  to  him !  Can  he  give  to  others 
if  his  own  supply  is  scant?  And  the  missionary's  life 
must  be  a  holy  life,  a  life  of  holy  gentleness,  holy  pur- 
ity, holy  love.  It  is  to  be  subject  to  fearful  strain.  It 
will  have  to  give  to  others  at  times  when  in  heat,  dis- 
comfort, fever,  dirt,  it  is  needing  most  to  receive,  when 


44  QUALIFICATIONS  DESIRED  IN  CANDIDATES 

endurance  is  tested  to  the  uttermost.  It  will  break 
under  this  trial  if  not  profoundly  held  by  the  power 
of  Him  before  Whom  the  Seraphim  called  to  one  an- 
other through  the  smoke  of  the  temple  while  the  pillars 
rocked  to  and  fro,  "Holy,  Holy,  Holy."  I  know  of  a 
missionary  whom  the  natives  called  "Mr.  Angry  Face," 
because  at  times  he  so  lost  control  of  himself,  as  to 
blaze  on  them  with  wrath.  It  may  not  be  so  with  the 
man  who  would  please  Christ. 

A  second  qualification  is  the  spirit  of  willing  sacri- 
fice, in  the  sense  of  endurance,  of  hardiness  as  a  good 
soldier,  and  of  surrender  of  all  devotion  to  comfort 
and  ease.  The  lot  of  the  missionary  is  much  easier 
in  these  regards  than  it  used  to  be,  and  in  many  places 
is  devoid  of  special  privation.  But  where  men  would 
do  what  needs  to  be  done  in  reaching  the  people,  in 
thorough  and  far-reaching  itinerating  work  in  coun- 
try and  villages,  in  energetic  and  unresting  activity, 
they  will  have  to  esteem  home  and  the  companionship 
of  loved  ones  and  ease  and  pleasant  surroundings,  as 
of  less  account  than  Christ  and  souls.  Men  are  wanted 
who  will  be  willing  to  be  absent  from  home  most  of 
the  time,  and  who  will  regard  themselves  as  on  a  cam- 
paign and  not  as  sitting  down  in  a  parish.  And  this 
spirit  must  be  ready  to  count  life  as  lightly  as  Paul 
counted  it.  I  do  not  mean  that  martyrdom  awaits  us, 
but  we  must  be  ready  to  spend  ourselves  utterly. 

"Sin  worketh, 

Let  me  work  too. 

Sin  undoeth, 

Let  me  do. 
Busy  as  sin  my  work  I  ply 
'Till  I  rest  in  the  rest  of  eternity." 


QUALIFICATIONS  DESIRED  IN  CANDIDATES  45 

We  must  not  only  be  willing  to  burn  up  for  God,  if 
that  impossible  fate  should  befall.  We  must  be  ac- 
tually burning  out  for  God  now,  toiling,  striving,  driv- 
ing; knowing  that  we  must  work  the  works  of  Him 
that  sent  us  while  it  is  day ;  for  the  night  cometh,  when 
no  man  can  work  any  more.  And  this  qualification 
must  be  put  in  evidence  by  the  missionary  candidate 
here  and  now.  Is  he  likely  to  be  a  flaming  fire  in  the 
service  of  his  God  in  Asia,  if  he  is  not  one  here  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada? 

If  I  have  set  these  spiritual  qualifications  so  promi- 
nently in  the  foreground  it  is  because  I  believe  that  we 
are  in  danger  of  magnifying  other  aspects  of  the  mis- 
sion work  above  its  primary  spiritual  character,  and 
that  the  world's  evangelization  is  a  spiritual  work,  a 
work  of  spiritual  influence,  and  that  the  man  who  is 
not  fit  for  it  spiritually  in  the  fullest  sense,  though  he 
may  do  much  good,  is  not  a  man  after  God's  own 
heart,  doing  all  His  will.  But  next  to  these  require- 
ments I  would  place  the  need  of  a  solid,  balanced  judg- 
ment, and  of  a  clear,  grave,  alert  mind.  A  man  can 
not  have  more  brains  in  quantity  than  God  has  given 
him,  but  he  can  improve  their  quality,  and  if  they  be 
phenomenal  or  not  is  of  little  consequence,  if  so  be  that 
only  he  has  disciplined  them  and  got  them  in  hand, 
so  that  they  go  square  at  any  problem  set  for  them, 
and  are  reliable  and  true  in  their  judgments,  and 
honest  and  unflinching.  The  mission  work  demands 
thought  and  study  and  the  faculty  of  decision  and 
determination  on  the  basis  of  facts  examined  and  con- 
ditions understood.  The  missionary  candidate  must 
learn  how  to  use  his  mind,  delivering  it  of  all  fancies 
and  caprices.     There  are  many  men  who  are  not  de- 


46  QUALIFICATIONS  DESIRED  IN  CANDIDATES 

ficient  in  mental  gifts  who  are  deficient  in  that  steady, 
well-tempered  adjustment  of  will  to  mind  wherein  the 
former  holds  the  latter  true  to  the  demands  of  each 
given  task,  and  then  taking  the  results  pushes  all  life 
and  work  up  to  them.  Good,  grave  sense ;  solid,  clear, 
unexcited  action;  quiet,  steady  will — these  are  quali- 
fications which,  with  a  deep,  holy,  devoted  life,  make 
up  the  required  man. 

He  should  be  a  free  man — belonging  to  no  prejudice, 
and  no  person,  save  to  the  One  who  bought  him,  and 
to  those  who  have  been  given  him  to  love;  open  to 
large  ideas  and  yet  also  to  fidelity  to  the  good  that  has 
already  come.  The  candidate  will  have  a  vast  deal  to 
learn  after  reaching  the  field.  Let  him  believe  this, 
and  not  go  as  though  knowing  all.  One  of  the  dangers 
of  the  Volunteer  Movement  is  that  its  members  may, 
with  their  fine  preparation  and  great  advantages,  for- 
get that  they  are  only  preparing  to  learn,  and  scarcely 
learning  as  yet.  To  be  sympathetic,  humble,  large 
minded,  progressive  on  the  foreign  field,  the  mission- 
ary candidate  must  be  these  now. 

And  there  is  no  new  Gospel  with  which  he  needs  to 
familiarize  himself,  or  which  is  desired  on  the  mission 
field.  The  old  Gospel  is  the  only  Gospel.  No  men  are 
wanted  whose  theologies  have  lost  hold  of  the  divine 
Christ,  the  Cross  of  Calvary,  and  the  Holiness  of  God. 
It  is  true  that  many  men  with  weak  and  unarticulated 
convictions  have  been  forced  in  the  face  of  heathenism 
and  the  evident  sin  of  the  world,  to  a  Biblical  and  sub- 
stantial faith ;  but  it  is  a  risk  to  send  such  men.  Men 
rather  are  needed  who  have  experienced  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  and  know  and  believe  it  as  the  only  Gospel  of 
God.    Such  men  will  not  be  blown  to  and  fro  by  every 


QUALIFICATIONS  DESIRED  IN  CANDIDATES  47 

wind  of  doctrine,  but  will  stand  calmly  and  peacefully 
with  their  feet  on  the  Everlasting  Rock;  and  their 
calm  and  peace  will  enable  them  to  do  in  one  year  what 
others  do  in  three,  and  to  spend  on  the  mission  field 
three  years  where  others  spend  one. 

Some  may  feel  that  these  qualifications  are  too  high. 
I  have  no  words  of  apology  for  that.  I  have  spoken 
of  no  qualifications  which  are  not  wholly  within  the 
reach  of  every  missionary  candidate.  He  should,  of 
course,  have  a  good  constitution  physically  and  the 
will  to  learn  the  language,  but  that  has  been  assumed. 
These  other  requirements  are  such  as  are  denied  to  no 
man  who  will  receive  them.  Christ  stands  ready  to 
give  them  to  any  man  who  will  enter  His  fellowship 
and  in  the  education  of  the  abiding  life  submit  to  be 
taught  and  endowed. 

These  qualifications  are  as  old  as  the  Day  of  Pente- 
cost and  the  Upper  Room  and  the  shores  of  Gen- 
nesaret.  There  are  no  nostrums,  no  short  cuts,  no 
outer  embellishments  worth  a  moment's  thought.  We 
are  to  do  the  work  our  Lord  began  in  Galilee.  We 
need  for  it  the  qualifications  He  possessed,  none  others. 
Let  us  find  them  where  He  found  them :  "I  came 
down  from  heaven  not  to  do  mine  own  will,  but  the 
will  of  Him  that  sent  me,"  and  "He  that  sent  me  is 
with  me.  He  hath  not  left  me  alone ;  for  I  do  always 
those  things  that  please  Him."  With  these  qualifica- 
tions, we  shall  be  workmen  not  needing  to  be  ashamed 
at  the  day  of  His  appearing. 


ALL-ROUND    PREPARATION    FOR    FOREIGN    MIS- 
SIONARY SERVICE1 

REV.  JAMES  L.  BARTON,  D.D.,  BOSTON 

In  entering  upon  the  discussion  of  this  subject,  let 
us  lay  down  two  self-evident,  though  oft-forgotten, 
propositions   which   are   counterparts   of   each   other: 

(1)  When  the  Lord  calls  one  to  a  particular  field  and 
work,  He  does  it  with  the  expectation  that  the  one 
called  will  prepare  himself  for  that  place  and  work. 

(2)  The  Lord  calls  no  one  to  a  work  for  which  He 
does  not  give  a  sufficient  time  for  adequate  prepara- 
tion. The  question  turns  then  upon  what  constitutes 
an  adequate  preparation  for  foreign  missionary  service. 
When  this  is  clearly  settled  it  will  be  easier  to  decide 
whether  a  call  to  this  service  has  come,  and  if  so, 
whether  the  present  preparation  is  sufficient.  It  is  safe 
to  declare  that  the  old  idea,  "That  all  who  are  com- 
mendably  devout  and  are  ready  to  go  abroad  are  called 
into  this  work,"  has  long  since  been  exploded.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  the  Lord  can  prepare  anyone  for  any 
part  of  His  service,  but  the  fact  is,  He  does  not  do 
it.  The  Lord  calls,  and  the  one  receiving  the  call  pre- 
pares himself  with  divine  help  to  meet  it.  The  ques- 
tion of  preparation  is  as  important  as  that  of  the  call. 


*Thc  Inter  collegian.  New  York,  January,  1900. 
48 


ALL-ROUND  PREPARATION  49 

It  is  of  great  moment  that  all  volunteers  settle  clearly 
the  question  of  a  call,  and  at  the  same  time  be  clear 
in  their  minds  as  to  what  constitutes  adequate  prepara- 
tion for  the  work  to  be  done.  Each  individual  must 
decide  for  himself  upon  his  knees  alone  with  God,  the 
question  of  the  call  to  the  mission  fields  abroad,  but 
after  that  he  must  bestir  himself  to  secure  the  necessary 
preparation.  Better  be  ready  to  go  and  not  receive  a 
call  than  to  be  called  and  never  get  ready. 

Perhaps  I  can  do  no  better  than  to  direct  attention 
to  what  is  expected  of  the  foreign  missionary  that  each 
one  may  decide  for  himself  what  kind  and  how  much 
preparation  is  imperative. 

1.  To-day  in  nearly  every  foreign  mission  field  in 
the  world,  a  missionary  is  an  educator,  a  creator  of 
literature  in  various  languages,  a  preacher  of  the  Gos- 
pel, an  evangelist,  an  organizer  of  a  new  society,  the 
personal  representative  of  the  best  Christian  civiliza- 
tion and  life,  a  director  of  native  forces  in  every  kind 
of  Christian  work,  a  foundation-layer  of  future  Chris- 
tian institutions,  and  a  multitude  of  other  things  be- 
sides. 

2.  Missionaries  are  compelled  to  assume  the  position 
of  leaders  and  directors ;  even  when  they  do  not  appear 
so  to  do,  they  must  be  able  to  wisely  shape  the  Chris- 
tian thoughts  of  the  people  and  lead  them  into  right 
methods  of  work.  In  most  fields  they  have  as  their 
associates,  well-educated  native  men  and  women,  some 
of  whom  have  taken  university  courses  in  Europe  and 
the  United  States.  Colleges  and  theological  seminaries 
have  been  planted  and  are  filled  with  native  students 
who  are  not  one  whit  behind  in  ambition,  mental 
acumen,  and  intellectual  ability  the  students  in  Ameri- 


50  ALL-ROUND    PREPARATION 

can  seminaries,  colleges,  and  universities.  The  mis- 
sionary must  command  the  respect  of  such  men  and 
their  native  teachers  so  as  to  exercise  the  right  influ- 
ence and  leadership  over  them  in  matters  of  education, 
religion,  and  in  Christian  work. 

3.  No  missionary,  except  possibly  the  physician  can 
select,  before  going  to  his  field,  any  one  department  of 
work  with  the  expectation  that  it  will  be  possible  for 
him  to  devote  his  energies  to  that  alone.  In  every  mis- 
sion field  conditions  are  liable  to  sudden  and  extensive 
changes.  Such  changes  are  constantly  taking  place. 
Every  missionary  must  be  prepared  to  meet  all  emer- 
gencies and  turn  them  so  as  to  make  them  aid  in  the 
advancement  of  the  Kingdom.  No  department  of  the 
work  exists  for  any  man  or  woman,  but  every  mission- 
ary is  at  the  front  to  do  what  needs  to  be  done  at  that 
time,  without  reference  to  what  he  was  sent  out  to  do 
or  what  he  wishes  to  do.  Every  missionary  is  a  minute 
man  ready  at  a  minute's  notice  to  undertake  anything 
and  make  it  count  most  for  the  kingdom. 

4.  The  name  ''missionary"  has  come  to  have  large 
significance  among  the  people  in  most  mission-fields. 
The  sum  of  the  virtues  of  all  preceding  missionaries 
are  looked  for  in  every  new-comer.  All  that  they  have 
done,  he  is  expected  to  be  able  to  perform,  and  even 
more.  It  is  important  that,  so  far  as  possible,  these 
not  unworthy  expectations  be  met.  The  present  gen- 
eration of  missionaries  enters  upon  work  whose  foun- 
dation was  laid  by  men  of  breadth,  wisdom,  and  power. 
The  conditions  that  surround  the  work  are  such  that 
only  those  of  the  broadest,  all-round  training  can  meet 
the  requirements. 

I  have  mentioned  but  a  few  of  the  leading  reasons 


ALL-ROUND  PREPARATION  5  I 

why  candidates  for  missionary  service  should  have 
the  most  complete  training.  The  foreign  missionary 
work  is  the  broadest,  all-round  Christian  work  the 
world  offers,  and  only  broadly  trained  men  can  expect 
to  make  the  greatest  success  in  it.  I  have  never  seen 
a  missionary,  among  the  hundreds  whom  I  have  met, 
who  gave  the  impression  that  he  thought  himself  too 
broadly  trained,  while  I  have  heard  many  of  the  best 
men  and  women  express  regrets  that  they  had  no  more 
opportunities  for  obtaining  for  themselves  a  better 
mental  and  spiritual  equipment  for  the  work  they  must 
do.  Medicine  is  about  the  only  specialty  mission  work 
tolerates,  and  that  department  now  calls  for  the  college- 
trained  physician.  It  is  expected  that  as  soon  as 
natives  can  be  trained  in  the  medical  profession,  the 
necessity  for  foreign  doctors  will  practically  cease. 

The  foreign  missionary  of  spiritual  and  mental 
power,  with  a  thorough,  all-round  training,  will  never 
fail  to  find  unlimited  opportunity  to  use  his  every  talent 
for  the  Master.  He  will  always  and  everywhere  make 
a  place  for  himself  and  gain  a  hearing  for  his  message. 
He  becomes  an  ambassador  for  Christ,  recognized  even 
by  multitudes  who  do  not  yet  accept  his  preaching. 
This  largest,  broadest  work  to  which  the  Lord  calls 
His  disciples,  demands  the  consecration  of  the  best 
Christian  talent,  prepared  for  the  service  by  the  broad- 
est training  our  best  institutions  can  afford. 


THE  INTELLECTUAL  AND   PRACTICAL   PREPARA- 
TION OF  THE  VOLUNTEER1 

PRESIDENT  J.  C.  R.  EWING,  D.D.,  OF  INDIA 

The  work  of  winning  the  world  for  Christ  is  a  veri- 
table warfare  with  principalities  and  powers.  The  evan- 
gelizing of  the  nations  is  no  light  and  insignificant  task. 
For  its  accomplishment  the  best  gifts  of  the  Church  are 
demanded.  For  the  successful  missionary  certain  defi- 
nite qualifications  are  essential. 

He  must  be  one  who  can  say,  not  only  at  the  outset, 
but  always,  every  day  throughout  the  years :  "The 
love  of  Christ  constraineth  me."  He  is  giving  his  life 
to  a  work  which  has  in  it  vastly  more  of  monotony  than 
of  romance.  To  live  amidst  conditions  that  have  a 
tendency  to  depress  rather  than  to  stimulate  is  the  lot 
which  he  has  deliberately  chosen.  If,  then,  the  love  of 
Christ  constrain  him  not,  nothing  else  in  the  world  can 
do  so. 

But,  aside  from  this  spiritual  equipment,  the  call  of 
the  Spirit  to  the  work,  and  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit 
in  the  worker's  heart,  without  which  the  missionary 
will  be  a  disappointment  to  himself  and  a  disappoint- 


lReport  Student  Volunteer  Convention,  Detroit,  1894- 
52 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  PRACTICAL  PREPARATION         53 

ment  to  those  who  send  him  forth,  is  there  not  some- 
thing else  upon  which  emphasis  ought  to  be  laid?  Is 
mere  personal  devotion  to  the  Lord  Jesus  always  suffi- 
cient to  guarantee  efficiency  in  the  missionary?  The 
obvious  reply  to  this  question  is  precisely  that  which 
would  be  given  were  it  to  be  asked  concerning  the  work 
of  Christian  leadership  in  our  own  nominally  Christian 
country. 

The  thorough  presentation  of  God's  word  to  the  non- 
Christian  world — this  is  what  the  Church  has  under- 
taken to  do.  Side  by  side  with  our  dependence  upon 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  enlighten  the  dark  mind  is  the  human 
side.  It  is  ours  to  strive  to  show  the  reasonableness  of 
the  faith  which  we  profess  and  preach.  To  accomplish 
this  the  brightest  and  best  intellectual  gifts  to  be  found 
in  the  Church  are  needed,  and  anything  less  than  that 
we  surely  will  not  dare  think  it  meet  to  give. 

The  missionary  goes  to  stand  face  to  face  with  hoary 
systems  of  faith,  some  of  which  have  not  a  little  to  say 
for  themselves.  The  disciples  of  Confucius  and  Bud- 
dha and  Mohammed  and  Laotze  and  Dayanand  Saras- 
wati  are  by  no  means  ready  to  accept  our  statements 
as  to  the  superiority  of  Christianity  merely  because  we 
utter  them.  The  preacher  not  seldom  finds  himself 
confronted  by  representatives  of  these  faiths  whose 
familiarity  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures startles  him.  There  are  those  amongst  them,  too, 
who  have  become  familiar  with  most  of  what  has  been 
urged  against  the  teachings  of  the  Bible  by  sceptics  of 
this  and  earlier  ages.  It  is  amazing  how  quickly  any- 
thing which  may  seem  to  militate  against  the  authen- 
ticity or  genuineness  of  any  portion  of  God's  Word 
finds  its  way  to  non-Christian  lands  and  gains  utter- 


54       INTELLECTUAL  AND  PRACTICAL  PREPARATION 

ance  from  the  lips  of  those  who  would  oppose  the  mes- 
sage of  the  preacher  in  school  or  college  or  market- 
place. The  marvelous  spread  of  the  knowledge  of  our 
English  tongue  has  made  it  easy  for  any  one  who  fan- 
cies that  he  has  anything  new  to  say  against  Christian- 
ity to  say  it  in  quarters  where  it  will  meet  the  mission- 
ary. Western  agnosticism  and  all  forms  of  sceptical 
speculation  have  encouraged  in  some  quarters  a  revolt 
against  the  propagation  of  the  gospel.  The  Brad- 
laughs  and  Ingersolls,  the  Blavatskys  and  Olcotts  and 
Besants,  together  with  the  Humes  and  Voltaires  and 
Paines  of  the  past,  are  striving  with  an  activity 
scarcely  less  than  that  of  the  Christian  missionary  to 
influence  great  sections  of  the  non-Christian  world. 

As  illustrating  the  desirability  of  the  best  possible 
intellectual  and  educational  equipment  on  the  part  of 
those  who  contemplate  entering  upon  the  work  of  a 
missionary,  I  would  suggest : 

I.  Ability  to  master  a  strange  and  difficult  language 
is  of  the  utmost  importance.  While  it  may  be  admitted 
that  a  very  imperfect  acquaintance  with  the  language 
of  the  people  to  whom  you  go,  familiarity  with  a  few 
words,  supplemented  by  vigorous  gesticulation,  may 
enable  one  to  convey  something  of  his  thought  to  the 
patient  and  polite  Oriental  who  is  all  the  while  man- 
fully resisting  the  temptation  to  burst  forth  into  laugh- 
ter, nevertheless  the  fact  remains,  and  can  scarcely  be 
too  strongly  emphasized,  that  the  preacher  or  teacher 
of  Christian  doctrine  falls  far  short  of  the  highest  effi- 
ciency who  is  unable  to  meet,  on  the  common  ground 
of  familiarity  with  the  speech  of  the  country,  those  for 
whom  he  believes  himself  to  have  God's  message.  As 
a  rule,  those  who  are  conscious  of  marked  inaptitude 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  PRACTICAL  PREPARATION         55 

in  the  direction  of  linguistic  study  would  do  well 
earnestly  to  question  whether,  after  all,  they  are  not 
called  to  put  forth  their  energies  in  the  service  of 
Christ  on  this  side  of  the  ocean. 

A  well-known  missionary,  when  asked  how  long  a 
time  was  required  to  gain  the  mastery  of  the  language 
of  the  country  in  which  he  labored,  replied :  "Oh, 
about  thirty  or  forty  years."  It  is  a  lifetime's  work. 
No  person  with  less  than  five  years  of  hard  study  can 
speak  to  the  peoples  of  oriental  lands  as  he  should. 
True,  he  may  begin  to  speak  in  the  language  after  a 
few  months,  but  he  is  almost  certain  to  share  the  ex- 
perience— not  once,  but  many  times — of  the  Indian 
missionary  who,  after  having  discoursed  for  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  to  a  street  audience,  using  what  he  imag- 
ined was  intelligible  Hindustani,  was  startled  and  dis- 
comfited by  his  leading  hearer's  respectful  request  that 
he  speak  Hindustani,  as  they  were  not  familiar  with 
English ! 

Imagine  a  foreigner  taking  his  stand  in  the  market- 
place of  one  of  our  great  American  cities  to  preach  to 
a  waiting  crowd  the  doctrines  of  a  strange  religion. 
He  hesitates,  stammers,  violates  every  rule  of  English 
grammar  and  idiom,  and  brings  good  old  words  into 
new  and  strange  and  ludicrous  positions.  Think  of 
the  effect  upon  his  audience,  and  of  the  inevitable  and 
pitiable  failure  to  secure  for  his  message  the  candid 
consideration  of  even  the  most  thoughtful  and  earnest 
of  the  people.  Something  quite  as  ludicrous  and  sad 
as  this  characterizes  every  attempt  of  the  missionary 
who  fails  to  use,  and  to  use  well,  the  speech  of  the 
people  amongst  whom  he  labors. 

2.  Again,   a   good   degree   of   familiarity   with   the 


56       INTELLECTUAL  AND  PRACTICAL  PREPARATION 

faiths  which  it  is  our  aim  in  Christ's  name  to  under- 
mine and  to  overthrow  is  essential.  The  mere  mastery 
of  a  language  will  not  suffice.  The  spirit  or  genius  of 
the  people  must  be  understood.  Their  institutions, 
philosophy,  literature  and  faith  we  dare  not  ignore. 
These  must  be  studied.  There  can  be  no  effective  and 
true  preaching  of  the  gospel  without  such  study.  To 
pass  rapidly  from  village  to  village  with  the  announce- 
ment of  certain  great  and  precious  truths,  but  which 
the  inhabitants  fail  to  understand  because  the  preacher 
is  unable  to  appreciate  their  attitude  of  mind  and 
spirit — this,  I  protest,  is  not  preaching  the  gospel  ef- 
fectively or  in  such  way  as  to  discharge  our  responsi- 
bility. We  must  know  the  main  currents  of  thought 
in  order  that  we  may  bring  the  truths  of  the  Bible  to 
bear  upon  them.  Pantheism,  polytheism,  atheism, 
idealism,  fetichism,  materialism,  in  their  baldest  and 
in  their  subtlest  forms,  have  to  be  met.  Representa- 
tives of  one,  or  it  may  be  of  all  of  them,  are  before 
the  preacher  as  he  stands  to  deliver  the  formal  dis- 
course or  sits  amid  the  little  group  to  talk  to  them  of 
Christ.  Power  to  understand  and  appreciate  in  very 
considerable  measure  the  workings  of  those  minds, 
imbued  as  they  are  with  ideas  which  are  the  product 
of  the  thinking  of  many  generations  of  thinking 
people,  is  an  indispensable  condition  of  real  efficiency. 
A  Hindu  was  heard  to  express  himself  thus :  "It  is 
an  insult  to  our  intelligence  that  a  man  should  preach 
to  us  and  expect  us  to  accept  his  religion  when  he  him- 
self is  unable  to  give  any  real  reason  for  supposing 
our  religion  to  be  inferior  to  his  own ;  since  he  knows 
of  our  religion  nothing  at  all!" 

3.  Furthermore,  ability  to  reason  intelligently  with 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  PRACTICAL  PREPARATION         57 

objectors  who  are  often  honestly  troubled  over  some 
of  the  great  mysteries  of  our  blessed  faith  is  another 
important  qualification.  Questions  of  the  most  tre- 
mendous import  are  often  fairly  hurled,  one  after  an- 
other, upon  the  missionary.  "Who  died  upon  the 
cross?  Was  it  God,  or  was  it  man?  If  He  was  God, 
why  did  He  cry  out  and  say:  'My  God!  Why  hast 
Thou  forsaken  Me?'  If  He  was  man,  how  can  we  sup- 
pose that  a  man's  death  could  atone  for  the  sin  of  a 
whole  world  full  of  men?"  "Explain  to  me,  please, 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity."  "You  say  that  the  doc- 
trine of  the  transmigration  of  souls  is  not  true;  will 
you  give  me  any  argument  outside  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures to  prove  your  position  on  the  subject."  "Some 
of  the  greatest  of  the  Christians  say  that  a  part  of  the 
Bible  is  not  God's  Word ;  which  part  is  that,  and  how 
do  you  know  that  the  rest  is  inspired?"  "Will  you 
give  me  any  reason  for  believing  that  there  is  a  state 
of  conscious  existence  after  death?  Of  course  I  want 
a  reason  outside  the  Bible,  for  that  book  is  not  with 
me  an  authority."  These  questions  are  but  typical  of 
a  whole  host  of  the  keenest  inquiries  which  meet  the 
missionary  at  every  turn.  No  sophistry  will  be  ac- 
cepted, were  the  preacher  so  foolish  and  wicked  as  to 
descend  to  that.  In  some  countries  of  the  world,  at 
least,  he  is  in  perpetual  contact  with  a  people  who  can 
detect  a  flaw  in  an  argument  as  readily  and  who  ap- 
preciate candor  in  discussion  as  highly  as  we  ourselves 
do.  Objections  to  the  faith  for  which  he  stands,  of 
every  conceivable  type,  are  placed  before  him,  and  an 
answer  expected;  and  if  he  fail  to  give  reasonable 
answers  to  reasonable  questions,  it  would  seem  as 
though  it  would  have  been  the  part  of  wisdom  not  to 


5 8       INTELLECTUAL  AND  PRACTICAL  PREPARATION 

have  assumed  the  part  of  a  teacher,  when  his  failure 
must  result  in  almost  incalculable  injury  to  the  cause 
which  he  represents. 

4.  Regarding  the  great  fundamental  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity the  young  missionary  should  have  definite,  set- 
tled views.  We  cannot  afford  to  export  doubt  to 
foreign  countries.  Those  lands  have  enough  and  more 
than  enough  religious  speculation  of  their  own.  Faith 
and  a  system  of  vital  truth  as  opposed  to  doubt  and 
profitless  speculation  must  be  the  substance  of  our  mes- 
sage. In  a  very  real  sense  must  the  messenger  speak 
that  which  he  knows  and  testify  of  those  things  which 
he  has  seen.  If  it  be  otherwise,  how  pitiable  his  blind 
attempt  to  lead  the  blind ! 

In  view  of  what  has  been  said  it  is  obvious  that  mis- 
sionaries should  be  thoroughly  educated  men  and 
women.  The  best  natural  gifts  disciplined  and  de- 
veloped by  the  training  of  years  are  in  demand.  Let 
there  be  no  short-cuts  into  the  mission  field.  Seven 
years  of  literary  and  theological  training  may  seem 
long  to  some  of  you  whose  hearts  are  throbbing  with 
enthusiasm  for  Christ,  and  who  contemplate  with 
horror  the  rapid  rate  at  which  the  unevangelized  mil- 
lions are  passing  into  eternity  without  having  heard  a 
word  of  the  world's  Saviour.  To  you  I  would  say: 
Wait !  Here  God  is  fashioning  you  into  workmen  who 
need  not  to  be  ashamed.  Toil  on  at  that  Greek  and 
German  and  Hebrew  and  Latin.  Master  as  best  you 
can  the  philosophies  and  histories  and  sciences  of  the 
schools,  studying  all  the  while  to  know  more  and  more 
of  the  mind  of  the  Master.  Every  fact  learned  now 
will  count  for  something  by  and  by,  and  you  will  ex- 
ceedingly  rejoice   over   this   equipment   when   in   the 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  PRACTICAL  PREPARATION         59 

future  you  discover  how  very  inadequate,  after  all,  that 
which  you  gain  through  your  years  of  patient  prepara- 
tion is  to  enable  you  to  accomplish  what  your  heart 
prompts  you  to  attempt  for  Him  whose  service  is  your 
joy. 

What  may  be  termed  the  practical  preparation  of  the 
missionary  is  perhaps  of  but  little  less  importance  than 
that  which  consists  in  an  adequate  intellectual  equip- 
ment. You  are  proposing  to  engage  in  spiritual  work 
abroad.  Have  you  ever  tested  your  powers  at  home? 
Much  of  your  life  is  to  be  spent  in  personal  dealing 
with  individuals;  in  striving  to  guide  men  to  a  point 
where  they  will  recognize  their  need  of  a  Saviour,  and 
in  pointing  them  to  Christ  as  the  Great  Physician.  I 
venture  to  believe  that  skill  in  thus  dealing  with  men 
is  rarely,  if  ever,  born  with  us ;  neither  does  it  neces- 
sarily accompany  the  highest  intellectual  attainment. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  thing  distinct,  an  attainment 
of  itself.  Experience  in  practical  Christian  work,  in 
the  teaching  of  God's  Word  in  the  Sunday  school  or 
the  Bible  class,  personal  contact  in  the  Young  Men's 
and  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations,  with 
those  who  need  help  and  guidance — here  is  a  training 
school  for  the  missionary,  second  in  importance  and 
fruitfulness  to  no  other.  We  would  all  unite,  doubt- 
less, to  deplore  the  going  forth  as  a  foreign  missionary 
of  one  who  himself  has  had  no  definite  experience  of 
the  power  of  Christ  to  transform  a  human  life.  Such 
an  experience  we  feel  to  be  an  essential  qualification. 
But  of  the  utmost  importance,  second  only  to  our  own 
personal  experience,  is  the  ability  to  guide  others  over 
the  path  which  we  ourselves  have  trod.  The  great 
work  of  life  is  to  be  that  of  winning  souls  for  Christ. 


60       INTELLECTUAL  AND  PRACTICAL  PREPARATION 

The  ability  to  do  this  should  be  fully  tested  as  an  es- 
sential preliminary  to  the  going  forth  of  the  mission- 
ary. Those  who  do  not  succeed  in  showing  some  apti- 
tude for  this  in  their  own  country  give  little  promise 
of  better  success  in  a  strange  land.  Tact  in  dealing 
with  men  is  a  quality  the  value  of  which  in  every  place 
is  obvious.  In  treating  with  peoples  of  national  or 
racial  tastes,  habits  and  affinities  other  than  our  own, 
practical  common  sense  is  mightily  effective.  In  your 
own  land  your  countrymen  may  overlook  and  forgive 
the  most  pronounced  idiosyncrasy  or  failure  to  adapt 
one's  self  to  special  conditions.  In  the  foreign  land  such 
lack  of  adaptability  to  circumstances  often  stands  as  a 
barrier  between  the  Christian  and  those  whom  he  longs 
to  influence.  In  dealing  with  the  great  problems  of 
morals  and  religion  he  will,  of  course,  persistently 
follow  the  same  great  lines  which  are  marked  out  for 
him  as  well  as  for  the  pastor  or  other  Christian  worker 
in  America,  but  in  numberless  details  of  his  work,  of 
his  dealing  with  people,  he  will  if  he  be  wise  adapt  his 
plans  and  methods  to  the  conditions  of  the  people 
whom  he  seeks  to  guide.  If  he  fails  to  do  this  much 
that  he  might  do  will  remain  undone,  while  his  nervous 
system  is  being  rapidly  enfeebled  by  useless  friction. 
It  is  not  always  best  to  insist  upon  doing  everything  in 
the  English  or  the  American  way.  The  missionary 
who  has  learned  the  art  of  making  friends  possesses  a 
powerful  adjunct  to  his  efficiency.  This  faculty  is  of 
immense  importance  here.  It  would  seem  to  be  even 
more  essential  abroad.  To  repel  men  is  a  fatal  be- 
ginning to  our  task  of  influencing  them.  I  could  name 
to  you  to-day  those  who  have  gone  to  live  and  labor 
amongst    men    of    tastes,    race    and    customs    wholly 


INTELLECTUAL  AND  PRACTICAL  PREPARATION  6 1 

diverse  from  their  own,  and  who  have  won  for  them- 
selves not  only  the  highest  esteem,  but  the  genuine 
affection  as  well  of  that  strange  people.  Such  men 
are  mighty. 

The  work  of  organization  is  a  prominent  element 
in  the  life  of  the  missionary.  Non-Christian  countries 
are  not,  I  believe,  to  be  evangelized  by  foreigners. 
Chinese,  Indian,  African  and  Arabian  Christian 
heralds  are  the  only  messengers  of  Christ  who  can 
ever  adequately  convey  the  tidings  of  salvation  to  the 
hundreds  of  millions  of  the  countries  which  they  repre- 
sent. The  foreign  preacher  reaches  the  few,  he  gathers 
about  him  the  little  company;  to  instruct  and  to  guide 
these  so  that  they  in  turn  may  influence  the  masses  of 
their  countrymen,  this  is  to  be  your  task.  Questions 
the  most  delicate  and  perplexing  connected  with  the 
organization  of  churches,  the  pecuniary  allowances  of 
helpers,  the  discipline  of  offenders  against  those  rules 
which  are  necessary  to  the  effective  working  of  the 
organization,  are  perpetually  pressing  for  solution. 
And,  as  we  contemplate  the  calamitous  consequences 
which  must  follow  the  course  of  the  missionary  whose 
judgment  is  of  the  haphazard  sort  or  the  one  who 
measures  men  and  things  by  unreasonable,  standards, 
can  we  hesitate  to  believe  that  the  practical  man  and 

woman  are  the  ones — all  else  being  equal to  whom 

the  call  to  go  far  hence  among  the  Gentiles  comes  most 
loudly ! 


THE  PRACTICAL  PREPARATION  OF  THE 

VOLUNTEER1 

REV.  HARLAN  P.  BEACH,  M.A.,  NEW  YORK 

I.  I  would  call  your  attention  first  to  the  importance 
of  knowing  your  own  Board.  You  will  love  that  Board 
when  you  get  ten  thousand  miles  away  from  it,  and  will 
wish  you  had  cultivated  its  acquaintance  a  little  more 
while  in  America.  Do  you  know  the  policy  of  the 
Board  to  which  you  have  committed  yourself?  Are 
you  acquainted  with  its  officers?  That  acquaintance 
will  be  of  the  utmost  importance  to  you,  you  will  find, 
when  you  get  too  far  away  to  make  it. 

There  are  two  officers  especially  whom  I  think  you 
can  practically  help  here  before  you  go  out.  One  of 
those  men  is  the  Treasurer  of  your  Board.  If  you  talk 
with  him  you  will  find  that  mission  money  is  very  care- 
fully expended  and  religiously  accounted  for.  Can  you 
keep  accounts?  If  not,  I  would  advise  you  to  learn 
how  before  you  launch  out  upon  that  great  sea  of 
foreign  accounts  and  exchanges  and  different  kinds  of 
silver,  where  you  are  to  be  cheated  day  by  day  by 
every  man.  Drop  into  the  office  of  your  Editorial 
Secretary,  and  you  will  find  that  it  is  a  very  valuable 
thing  to  be  able  to  illustrate  the  foreign  field.  The  so- 
called  camera  fiend  is  not  supposed  to  be  a  friend  of 
missions ;  but  if  you  will  learn  how  to  use  a  camera, 
you  will  find  it  of  service  to  your  Board. 


Report  Student  Volunteer  Convention,  Detroit,  1894. 
62 


PRACTICAL  PREPARATION  OF  THE  VOLUNTEER       63 

2.  A  second  line  of  preparation  has  to  do  with  your 
field.  It  is  obvious  that  in  order  to  prepare  for  your 
field  in  the  way  of  outfit,  you  need  to  know  something 
about  its  topography,  its  climate,  its  prevailing  diseases. 
In  case  you  are  one  of  the  early  missionaries  in  a  coun- 
try, you  will  need  to  be  a  follower  of  the  Apostle  Paul, 
and  know  where  your  strategic  points  are.  But  when 
you  get  in  a  heathen  land  there  are  few  means  of  com- 
munication between  different  parts  of  the  country ;  so 
that  you  can  learn  a  great  deal  more  in  your  college 
libraries  about  the  strategic  points  to  be  occupied  than 
you  can  out  on  the  field. 

I  would  advise  you  to  learn  a  great  deal  about  its 
people.  Learn  how  they  think,  what  their  religious 
views  are,  what  forms  of  government  and  civilization 
you  are  going  to  live  in  the  midst  of.  So  also  I  would 
suggest  to  you  to  learn  very  definitely  just  what  portion 
of  your  country  your  Board  occupies.  Learn  what 
other  portions  are  already  occupied  by  other  boards; 
and  then,  if  you  are  fortunate  enough  to  go  to  a  land 
where  missionary  conferences  have  been  held,  I  would 
advise  you  to  get  those  conference  reports.  If  there 
are  none,  get  the  periodicals  published  by  missionary 
boards  in  your  field,  and  study  them ;  learn  the  methods 
employed  and  the  comparative  results,  and  you  will 
find  them  of  great  assistance  to  you  when  you  get  out 
there. 

I  want  to  emphasize  the  value  of  biographies.  The 
periodicals  do  not  give  accounts  of  the  failures  of  mis- 
sionaries, but  biographies,  if  true,  will  show  you  where 
all  sorts  of  men  have  blundered.  Now,  missionary 
failures  are  the  stepping  stone  to  missionary  success. 
It  is  not  necessary,  however,  for  you  to  lay  that  founda- 


64       PRACTICAL  PREPARATION  OF  THE  VOLUNTEER 

tion  when  others  have  done  it  for  you.  You  should 
have  success  from  the  start,  if  you  can. 

3.  A  third  line  of  preparation  which  I  would  suggest 
has  to  do  with  the  material  needs  of  yourself  and  your 
fellow  missionaries.  You  want  to  make  some  prepara- 
tion for  food  and  raiment  and  habitation,  for  disease 
and  death;  for  man  is  very  human,  and  you  will  have 
all  kinds  of  experiences  to  meet,  and  might  as  well  be 
ready  for  them.  I  suppose  that  Dr.  Nevius  in  China, 
and  the  Catholic  missionaries  throughout  the  world, 
have  not  only  benefited  themselves,  but  the  countries 
to  which  they  went,  simply  because  they  believed  in 
carrying  something  along  to  eat.  You  can  do  some- 
thing for  humanity,  you  can  gain  the  friendship  of 
many  men  who  might  be  opposed  to  you,  by  a  simple 
knowledge  of  gardening. 

Many  a  man  who  has  been  called  upon  to  go  abroad 
to  be  the  dispenser  of  the  Water  of  Life,  has  had  his 
life  cut  short  simply  because  he  partook  of  the  waters 
of  unsanitary  wells.  I  would  commend  to  you  that 
apostle  to  the  New  Hebrides,  Dr.  Paton.  See  what  you 
can  do  with  a  well.  Remember,  too,  that  in  heathen 
cities  there  is  generally  no  satisfactory  water  supply, 
and  that  life  may  depend  upon  your  knowledge  of  how 
to  make  a  simple  filter  or  a  condenser.  It  is  something 
worth  looking  into  now. 

I  would  suggest  to  you  in  this  connection  also  that 
clothing  has  to  be  provided.  Just  think  of  that  culti- 
vated man,  the  Bishop  of  New  Zealand,  sitting  on  the 
back  of  that  vessel  of  his,  making  garments  for  women 
who  wished  to  leave  the  ways  of  heathenism!  You 
will  find  that  nakedness  is  one  of  the  evils  you  must 
fight  against.     You  young  women  know  how  to  cut 


PRACTICAL  PREPARATION  OF  THE  VOLUNTEER        65 

and  make  your  own  dresses;  but  you  young  men,  can 
you  cobble  a  pair  of  shoes?  I  remember  that  I  prac- 
tically was  obliged  to  retire  for  about  a  week  while  my 
only  pair  of  shoes  were  carried  at  a  slow  walk  eighty- 
three  miles  and  brought  back.  Since  that  time  I  have 
had  the  greatest  respect  for  the  Church  Missionary 
Society  College,  which  has  a  class  in  cobbling. 

You  are  to  live  in  a  house.  Do  you  know  anything 
about  building  one?  Can  you  plane  a  board  or  do 
anything  in  the  line  of  mason's  work?  If  not,  you  can 
watch  masons  and  carpenters,  and  can  at  least  direct 
that  line  of  effort  in  your  new  home.  You  will  find 
that  furniture  is  a  desirable  thing,  and  that  freights  are 
enormously  expensive.  If  you  will  spend  some  Satur- 
day afternoon  in  a  furniture  maker's  factory  you  will 
learn  enough  about  the  principles  of  cabinet  making 
and  upholstering  so  that  at  a  greatly  reduced  expense 
you  can  have  furniture  made  by  native  workmen. 

But  life  is  more  than  any  of  the  things  I  have  spoken 
of,  and  I  exhort  you,  men  and  women  who  are  expect- 
ing to  go  abroad,  not  merely  to  feel  your  way  there 
with  just  strength  enough  to  get  off  the  steamer;  but 
go  there  with  the  fullness  of  strength.  Patronize  the 
gymnasium;  get  as  strong  as  exercise  can  make  you. 
Remember  that  you  are  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
that  you  can  make  your  temple  a  very  efficient  instru- 
ment. Some  women,  going  to  countries  like  Persia, 
for  instance,  have  almost  wrecked  their  lives  simply 
because  they  didn't  know  how  to  ride  horseback.  A 
tooth  may  make  you  useless  for  several  days,  because 
you  didn't  learn  how  to  extract  teeth  or  bring  with  you 
a  pair  of  forceps.  When  common  diseases  arise  in  your 
family  or  among  your  native  friends,  and  there  is  no 


66       PRACTICAL  PREPARATION  OF  THE  VOLUNTEER 

physician  within  a  hundred  miles,  perhaps  you  will 
wish  that  you  had  learned  a  little  about  medicine.  Very 
frequently  a  life  dear  to  you  and  important  to  mis- 
sionary work  hangs  in  the  balance,  and  a  little  knowl- 
edge of  nursing  would  carry  that  life  through. 

One  other  point  in  this  line — it  is  an  important  one : 
death  is  the  means  by  which  a  great  many  missionaries 
glorify  God.  It  is  a  sad  hour  for  you  when  you  close 
their  eyes  in  death,  but  it  is  a  sadder  thing  still  if  you 
don't  know  how  to  perform  the  last  rites  for  them.  I 
would  advise  you  to  ask  a  few  questions  of  an  under- 
taker ;  it  will  help  you  wonderfully  in  that  sad  hour. 

4.  A  fourth  line  of  preparation:  practical  educa- 
tional preparation,  1  will  call  it.  A  great  many  lines 
of  work  have  to  be  done  for  mission  purposes  solely, 
and  perhaps  the  commonest  are  bookbinding  and  print- 
ing. Nearly  every  mission  has  a  press.  Are  you  going 
to  know  enough  about  the  work  so  that  when  the  man- 
ager who  has  technical  training  is  called  to  America 
you  will  be  able  to  take  his  place?  Suppose  you  are 
five  hundred  miles  from  a  book-bindery,  can  you  bind 
a  book  ?  You  can  learn  enough  about  it  in  an  afternoon 
to  bind  your  own  books  and  periodicals ;  get  the  prac- 
tice now. 

But  the  industrial  education  is  the  special  thing 
which  I  wish  to  speak  of  under  this  head.  It  is  a 
practical  necessity  in  a  great  many  countries  where  the 
arts  of  civilized  lands  are  unknown,  or  where  competi- 
tion is  so  great  that  the  men  or  women  becoming  Chris- 
tians are  practically  thrown  upon  the  church  for  sup- 
port. If  you  will  read  the  story  of  Lovedale  in  South 
Africa,  or  of  Mangalore  in  India,  or  of  Norfolk  Island, 
you  will  see  what  a  wide  field  this  opens  up  before  you. 


PRACTICAL  PREPARATION  OF  THE  VOLUNTEER       67 

If  your  Board,  in  the  field  to  which  you  are  going, 
happens  to  have  industrial  schools,  learn  carefully  all 
you  can  here  about  those  lines  of  work  which  are 
favored  by  your  Board. 

I  wish  you  would  look  up  that  passage  in  the  life  of 
Mackay  and  see  what  he  says  about  normal  training 
as  the  key  to  the  solution  of  many  problems  in  Africa. 
Kindergarten  work  I  want  to  speak  of.  You  young 
women,  many  of  you,  will  go  into  thousands  of  heathen 
homes;  you  will  come  into  contact  with  multitudes  of 
young  lives.  Have  you  ever  been  in  a  kindergarten 
and  asked  yourself,  Would  not  this  same  work  be  of 
even  greater  value  on  the  foreign  field?  I  think  that 
over  the  door  of  every  kindergarten  of  heathenism  there 
should  be  the  same  inscription  that  there  is  over  a  para- 
dise of  children  in  Kobe,  Japan,  "Glory  Kindergarten." 
Not  only  is  the  life  of  the  children  made  glorious,  but 
the  great  God  is  made  glorious  in  their  thoughts. 

You  will  have  to  teach  music  whether  you  sing  or 
not.  You  might  just  as  well  learn  to  play  an  instru- 
ment and  sing  in  some  sort  of  fashion  now.  I  would 
advise  you  to  take  steps  immediately  to  do  that.  Music 
suggests  time,  time  suggests  watches.  Heathen  coun- 
tries of  course  know  nothing  about  eternity,  conse- 
quently they  care  little  about  time,  and  it  is  a  great 
part  of  the  missionary's  work  to  make  them  feel  its 
value.  I  spent  a  solid  day  once  in  mending  the  main 
spring  of  my  watch.  Now,  if  I  had  known  what  you 
may  know,  that  it  is  a  valuable  thing  to  learn  how  to 
put  in  a  watch  spring,  and  if  I  had  carried  one  along 
with  me,  I  would  have  saved  a  day  of  missionary  time. 

5.  Another  line  of  preparation  that  I  would  suggest 
has  to  do  with  evangelistic  work.     A  magic  lantern 


68       PRACTICAL  PREPARATION  OF  THE  VOLUNTEER 

is  an  instrument  of  the  Lord  if  you  know  how  to  use 
it.  Another  suggestion  in  this  same  line  is  the  value 
of  street  preaching.  Now,  it  is  not  an  easy  thing  when 
you  only  half  know  a  language  or  are  liable  to  be  inter- 
rupted, as  St.  Stephen  was,  to  learn  how  to  do  street 
preaching.  You  would  better  do  it  right  here  in  this 
country;  you  can  prepare  yourself  for  that  kind  of 
work  here. 

6.  A  sixth  line  of  preparation  has  to  do  with  organi- 
zation. You  are  to  be  the  leaders  of  a  new  church. 
You  can  use  the  training  you  have  in  your  societies 
here  to  prepare  you  for  the  work  of  organization. 
There  is  a  young  people's  society  which  ought  to  be 
established  in  your  church;  it  is  a  hard  piece  of  work. 
Take  it  up  and  follow  up  that  line  until  you  become 
thoroughly  familiar  with  it.  I  suppose  that  home  mis- 
sionary work  during  a  summer  vacation  would  give 
you  an  all-round  preparation  which  perhaps  would  be 
of  greater  value  than  anything  else. 

7.  A  seventh  kind  of  preparation  which  I  wish  to 
suggest  has  to  do  with  shepherding  the  mission  flock. 
It  is  not  a  flock  which  is  easily  shepherded ;  much  will 
have  to  be  provided  for.  The  Sunday  school  is  the  best 
agency  so  far  discovered  to  do  that  work.  But  do  you 
know  the  best  methods  of  conducting  a  Sunday  school  ? 
All  your  church,  remember,  will  be  in  the  Bible  school. 

The  work  which  a  great  many  of  you  might  profit- 
ably do,  that  of  house  to  house  visitation,  is  of  great 
value  abroad.  I  can't  tell  you  how  much  that  will  help 
you  in  the  work  of  shepherding  the  strange  flock  that 
is  to  be  committed  to  you. 

8.  The  last  point  that  I  wish  to  speak  of  is  this — 
preparation  for  personal  work.     The  time  has  passed 


PRACTICAL  PREPARATION  OF  THE  VOLUNTEER        69 

when  a  man  will  simply  go  out  and  harangue  a  great 
crowd  of  heathen.  That  has  its  place,  of  course,  but 
missionaries  have  found  out,  what  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  discovered  years  ago  in  America 
and  England,  that  the  most  effective  form  of  effort  is 
hand  to  hand  work.  Have  you  ever  thought  of  debate 
as  a  means  of  preparation  for  that?  If  you  have  not, 
and  you  have  much  to  do  with  Mohammedans,  or  the 
Brahmin  pundits,  or  the  Japanese  philosophers,  you 
will  say,  "Oh,  that  I  had  been  taught  to  think  on  my 
feet !" 

Another  art  to  be  acquired  is  that  of  making  friends. 
You  must  get  hold  of  men  before  you  influence  them. 
Heathen  men  and  women  are  hard  people  to  get  hold 
of.  It  is  easy  to  make  friends  with  persons  who  are 
congenial  to  you,  but  have  you  the  power  to  go  to  a 
man  or  woman  differing  from  you  in  culture  or  nation- 
ality or  religious  views  and  make  that  person  love  you  ? 
Can  you  pour  the  great  love  of  your  heart  out  upon 
persons  indiscriminately?  If  you  have  not  that  power, 
learn  something  about  it.  And  I  would  suggest  that 
you  learn  how  to  do  this  in  the  slums  of  our  great 
cities,  for  there  are  your  foreigners,  your  men  of  dif- 
ferent creeds. 

Personal  work  with  your  own  fellow  students  is  a 
most  valuable  preparation  for  missionary  work.  Oh, 
fellow  students,  if  I  could  only  live  over  again  my  four 
years  in  Yale  College,  I  tell  you,  under  God,  more  men 
would  be  brought  to  Jesus  Christ  than  were  brought  to 
Him  by  me.  I  did  not  realize  the  value  of  personal 
work  then  as  a  preparation  for  future  service.  You  are 
not  sure  that  you  will  ever  touch  foreign  shores ;  God's 
plan  for  you  may  be  very  different.     But  you  have  a 


70       PRACTICAL  PREPARATION  OF  THE  VOLUNTEER 

mission  field  wherever  you  are.  Just  say,  "O  God,  I 
want  to  do  Thy  work  among  the  perishing  heathen; 
but  help  me  to  do  this  work  here  and  now.  I  will  take 
any  success  in  it  as  an  indication  that  Thou  wishest  me 
to  do  a  wider  work." 

A  great  many  of  these  things  you  will  never  be  called 
upon  to  do.  There  are  a  multitude  of  things  not  men- 
tioned that  you  would  give  a  great  deal  to  know  how  to 
do  when  the  time  comes.  My  only  plea  then  is  this: 
you  must  touch  humanity  at  a  multitude  of  points ;  pre- 
pare to  do  so  now,  and  don't  suppose  that  it  necessitates 
a  lowering  of  your  consecration.  You  remember  that 
the  usual  Hebrew  word  for  consecration  means  "to 
fill  the  hands."  For  this  great  work  of  the  Master  in 
the  world-wide  field  I  urge  you  to  fill  your  hands  as 
well  as  your  heads  and  hearts. 


PRACTICAL  PREPARATION  FOR  WOMEN  STUDENT 
VOLUNTEERS  l 

MISS  ISABELLA  THOBURN,  OF  INDIA 

The  preparations  which  a  volunteer  may  require 
must  depend  upon  what  she  has  already  received ;  that 
is,  she  may  have,  or  be  receiving  an  educational  prepa- 
ration so  far  as  books  or  a  course  of  study  can  give  it, 
and  yet  have  no  practical  training  of  the  kind  that 
every  foreign  missionary  feels  the  need  of.  But  she 
may  have  had  this  preparation  during  or  before  begin- 
ning her  college  course.  A  case  comes  to  mind  of  a 
young  woman  who  earned  the  money  that  carried  her 
through  college  by  such  various  industries  as  were 
found  possible  or  convenient  at  the  time.  When  she 
graduated  she  was  sent  out  to  superintend  an  orphan- 
age which  in  a  few  years,  under  her  leading,  developed 
into  an  industrial  school  of  the  most  practical  kind. 
Another  had  had  unusual  opportunities  for  Bible  study 
and  had  prepared  herself  in  the  part  which  is  often  the 
most  neglected. 

The  preparation  required  will  also  depend  somewhat 
upon  the  character  of  the  college  in  which  the  vol- 
unteer is  studying.  In  some — too  few — a  Bible  course 
is  provided ;  in  too  many  the  book  has  no  place  in  the 
curriculum.  In  some  there  are  live  branches  of  the 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  which  keep 
its  members  alert  in  direct  Christian  service;    others 

1The  Inter  collegian,  New  York,  May,  1900. 
7i 


72  PREPARATION   FOR  WOMEN   VOLUNTEERS 

have  not  this  agency  for  practical  training.  In  some 
colleges  the  atmosphere  is  charged  with  missionary 
spirit.  A  sense  of  personal  responsibility  to  those 
around  is  impressed  upon  all  serious  students;  in 
others  the  intellectual  life  is  so  all-aborbing,  or  the 
preparation  for  pleasant  forms  of  worldliness,  that  one 
gets  no  sense  of  self-denying  Christian  duty  to  others, 
either  from  the  lecture-room  or  from  the  social  life 
of  the  school. 

Let  us  suppose  a  student  volunteer  without  any 
preparation  before  or  at  the  time,  and  consider  what 
she  should  set  before  her  as  necessary. 

1.  To  grow  in  grace.  Her  Bible  will  tell  her  how — 
the  Holy  Spirit  will  help  her — prayer  will  keep  her 
heart  open  to  that  help.  The  danger  in  Christian  work, 
from  preparation  to  finish,  is  that  the  letter  is  held 
more  essential  than  the  spirit;  not  intentionally,  but 
method  and  routine  make  such  demands  upon  time  and 
strength  that  we  give  these  and  do  not  notice  or  know 
that  we  have  failed  to  give  that  without  which  they 
are  nothing — the  life  within  us,  which  is  not  our  life 
but  Christ's. 

2.  She  should  make  perfect  health  of  body  second 
only  to  perfect  health  of  soul.  Happily  the  gymna- 
siums and  tennis  courts  of  the  modern  colleges  give 
opportunity  for  this.  Not  only  there,  however,  but 
in  the  dining-room  and  bed-room  should  this  object 
be  kept  in  view.  An  appetite  for  plain,  wholesome 
food  at  regular  hours  should  be  cultivated,  and  nature's 
demand  for  eight  hours  of  sound  sleep  gratified.  It 
should  be  held  a  sacred  duty  to  bring  the  body  under 
the  will  to  this  extent.  A  missionary  who  suffered 
from  dyspepsia  and  nervousness  was  advised  to  take 


PREPARATION   FOR  WOMEN   VOLUNTEERS  73 

daily  walks — no  other  kind  of  exercise  being  available. 
She  replied,  "I  never  could  walk  just  for  exercise.  I 
must  have  a  place  to  go  or  an  errand  to  do."  The 
dyspepsia  and  nervousness  continued  and  marred  her 
work  and  her  happiness  because  she  had  not  learned  to 
make  her  will  and  her  body  serve  each  other. 

3.  Next  to  the  practice  of  prayer  and  of  healthy 
habits  should  come  the  practice  of  helpfulness.  Some 
favored  natures  are  spontaneously  thoughtful  and  help- 
ful for  others,  and  are  blessed  with  tact  that  tells  them 
what  and  how  to  offer  service;  others  are  naturally 
selfish,  and  some  who  are  not  selfish  are  timid  or  awk- 
ward about  helping.  What  to  do  for  others'  need,  how 
to  do  it,  and  the  daily  practice  that  forms  and  fixes 
the  habit  of  serving,  should  be  kept  in  mind  by  the 
volunteer.  There  is  opportunity  for  this  in  college 
life.  There  will  be  the  sick  or  lonely,  the  dull  and 
discouraged  to  help,  and  there  will  be  students  who 
do  not  know  Christ.  No  one  ought  to  expect  to  be 
sent  to  save  the  heathen  who  has  not  first  saved  some 
one  at  home.  This  proof,  or  seal,  of  her  ministry 
(service)  each  volunteer  should  claim  and  strive  for. 

Young  men  and  women  have  undertaken  to  be  mis- 
sionaries who  had  not  this  preparation,  and  they  could 
tell  you  of  sorrowful  failure.  Only  the  other  day  it 
was  said  to  me,  "I  should  like  your  work.  People 
there  do  not  seem  so  hard  to  reach  as  they  do  here — 
they  are  more  open  to  influence."  It  is  a  mistake.  We 
tell  you  of  those  who  hear  and  respond,  but  there  are 
multitudes  so  joined  to  their  idols  that  they  are  deaf 
and  blind ;  and  those  who  do  hear  and  see  have  much 
to  learn  and  to  unlearn  before  they  become  useful,  re- 
liable Christian  workers.     All  the  personal  qualifka- 


74  PREPARATION   FOR   WOMEN   VOLUNTEERS 

tion  required  for  success  in  Christian  service  at  home 
is  required  there,  and  much  more. 

4.  And  that  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  the 
books  to  be  read.  The  course  of  reading  suggested 
for  student  volunteers  provides  what  is  needed.  The 
reading  should  not  be  confined  to  the  prospective  field 
of  the  reader,  but  should  include  other  countries  and 
be  a  study  in  comparative  missionary  methods  as  well 
as  in  comparative  religions.  It  should  also  include 
histories  of  philanthropies  and  biographies  of  phi- 
lanthropists. There  have  been  many  missionaries  in 
the  world  not  called  by  that  name — such  as  George 
Miiller,  Florence  Nightingale,  and  Mary  Lyon. 

5.  Then  will  come  the  question  of  the  special  line 
of  work  to  prepare  for.  That  should  depend  upon  per- 
sonal adaptations.  There  is  use  for  every  talent  on  the 
mission  field  as  well  as  in  America.  "Should  I  study 
medicine?"  one  asks.  Yes,  if  you  believe  you  have 
the  gift  of  healing — that  is,  if  you  believe  you  could 
work  more  successfully  in  that  department  than  in 
any  other.  One  who  has  the  gift  of  teaching — and 
teachers  "are  born,  not  made" — should  take  a  normal 
course  and  qualify  for  that  work.  Music  is  not 
thought  necessary  for  missionaries,  except  the  ability 
to  sing  hymns,  but  in  both  India  and  Japan  music 
teachers  are  called  for.  In  all  lands  there  is  place  for 
industrial  schools;  and  everywhere  there  is  room  for 
the  evangelist.  If  I  mention  last  that  which  should 
seem  to  come  first,  it  is  because  the  evangelist  must  so 
often  stop  and  be  something  else.  She  will  find  quinine 
and  other  simple  medicines  called  for  as  she  goes 
among  the  villages ;  and  she  will  find  that  in  order  to 
make  her  work  permanent  and  able  to  bear  fruit  in 


PREPARATION   FOR   WOJVTEN    VOLUNTEERS  75 

itself,  she  will  sometimes  need  to  stop  and  teach. 
Some  knowledge  of  business  methods  every  missionary 
candidate  should  have.  A  course  in  bookkeeping 
should  be  a  part  of  one's  training. 

When  possible,  she  should  spend  a  year  or  two  in  a 
missionary  training-school  after  the  collegiate  course 
is  completed.  Happily  there  are  schools  now  which 
make  this  possible,  where  one  may  learn  something  of 
everything  desirable.  That  is,  there  are  lessons  and 
lectures  on  nursing,  teaching,  kindergarten,  and  indus- 
trial methods,  house-to-house  visiting — and  all  with 
daily  practice.  And  throughout  the  course  there  are 
daily  Bible  lessons,  with  the  best  helps  in  exposition 
and  books  of  reference.  As  it  was  said  in  the  begin- 
ning, one  may  have  had  a  personal  experience  or  op- 
portunity that  supplied  this  need,  but  in  nineteen  cases 
out  of  twenty  the  training-school  is  needed  to  complete 
the  preparation  of  the  student  volunteer,  and  the  time 
thus  spent  is  well  worth  while. 


THE  TRAINING  OF  CHARACTER 
EUGENE  STOCK,  M.A.,  LONDON 

In  the  mission-field  abroad,  as  in  fact  at  home,  too, 
character  counts  for  more  than  learning,  for  more  than 
skill.  Character,  humanly  speaking,  is  almost  every- 
thing. In  speaking  of  character  I  am  going  to  take 
three  points.  Character  is  tested  by  the  consideration 
of  three  things:  "I  and  my  work,"  "I  and  my  com- 
rades," "I  and  my  Lord." 

i.  "I  and  my  work."  I  have  been  asked  often  by 
missionary  candidates,  What  country  shall  I  be  suit- 
able for?  But  how  can  I  tell  you — how  can  you  tell 
either?  Testing  is  needed  before  you  can  tell  what 
practical  work  a  man  or  woman  is  fit  for. 

First  I  want  you  io  recognize  diversities.  Look  at 
that  famous  passage  I  am  so  fond  of  quoting  in  I. 
Corinthians  xii.:  "There  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but 
the  same  Spirit.  And  there  are  diversities  of  minis- 
trations, and  the  same  Lord.  And  there  are  diversities 
of  workings,  but  the  same  God  who  worketh  all 
things  in  all."  Diversities  of  gifts,  that  is  personal 
characteristics ;  diversities  of  ministrations,  that  is  the 
conduct  of  missions ;  diversities  of  workings,  that  is 
variety  of  work  in  the  field. 

Secondly,  while  you  recognize  diversity,  believe  in 
your  own  work  and  do  it.    Let  a  man  when  he  is  ap- 


^eport  Student  Volunteer  Convention,  Liverpool,  1896. 
76 


THE  TRAINING  OF  CHARACTER  77 

pointed  to  do  some  work  for  Christ,  do  it  and  believe 
in  it.  Do  not  envy  somebody  else  because  he  has  some 
other  special  class  of  work,  and  do  not  imagine  that 
the  other  class  is  more  important  than  yours;  thank 
God  for  what  you  have,  and  ask  Him  to  bless  it. 

Then,  thirdly,  take  the  lowest  place.  Oh,  to  be  ready 
to  do  that!  We  often  sing,  "Anywhere  with  Jesus," 
but  we  do  not  always  like  our  locations.  But  a  man 
must  be  ready  to  take  the  highest  place,  if  necessary. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  over-humility,  and  sometimes 
a  man  is  called  to  rise  to  the  responsibility  of  his  posi- 
tion. Ask  the  Lord  to  fit  you  for  either  place,  and 
think  of  it  soberly.  That  is  a  remarkable  verse  in  the 
twelfth  chapter  of  Romans,  where  St.  Paul  says,  "I 
say,  through  the  grace  that  was  given  me,  to  every 
man  that  is  among  you,  not  to  think  of  himself  more 
highly  than  he  ought  to  think,  but  ...  to  think 
soberly."  We  have  to  make  a  fair,  reasonable,  humble 
and  yet  rational  estimate  of  ourselves,  according  as 
God  hath  dealt  to  every  man  the  measure  of  capability. 
Men  miss  opportunities  for  usefulness  sometimes  by 
not  believing  they  can  do  a  thing  which  God  can  enable 
them  to  do. 

Fourthly,  do  the  small  things  first  and  do  them  faith- 
fully. This  is  the  best  training  for  character  that  can 
be  found.  Yes,  do  the  small  thing  first,  trade  with 
your  pound  faithfully,  and  the  Lord  will  perhaps  give 
you  the  talent  by-and-by  and  say,  "Have  thou  author- 
ity over  ten  cities,"  and  then  after  that,  "Enter  thou 
into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 

2.  Then  we  come  to  "I  and  my  comrades."  My 
fellow-workers,  I  come  back  to  that  text  in  I.  Cor. 
xii.  4-6.    As  there  are  diversities  of  workings,  so  there 


78  THE  TRAINING  OF  CHARACTER 

are  diversities  of  gifts.  Again  in  Rom.  xii.  4-5.  "As 
we  have  many  members  in  one  body,  and  all  the  mem- 
bers have  not  the  same  office;  so  we,  who  are  many, 
are  one  body  in  Christ,  and  severally  members  one  of 
another."  Then,  in  the  same  chapter,  the  natural  and 
necessary  consequence  of  being  of  one  body  comes  out 
in  practical  details.  "Be  tenderly  affectioned  one  to 
another;  in  honor  preferring  one  another."  Is  there 
any  lesson  we  need  to  learn  more  than  that  ?  Brethren 
and  sisters,  ask  the  Lord  to  teach  you  to  be  able  in 
honor  to  prefer  one  another.  It  is  one  secret  of  suc- 
cess in  home  operations,  and  in  the  foreign  field  most 
emphatically.  Further  on  we  have,  "Be  of  the  same 
mind  one  toward  another.  Set  not  your  mind  on  high 
things,  but  condescend  to  things  that  are  lowly  .  .  . 
if  it  be  possible,  as  much  as  lieth  in  you,  live  peaceably 
with  all  men."  Yes,  learn  to  fit  into  your  places.  Let 
the  arm  do  the  arm's  work,  not  the  leg's  work,  not  the 
brain's  work,  nor  the  work  of  the  finger.  Let  us  fit 
in  with  the  work  of  others,  prefer  them,  love  them, 
help  them,  appreciate  them,  and  speak  well  of  them 
behind  their-  backs,  not  whispering  nor  backbiting. 
One  might  make  a  speech  on  every  one  of  these  topics, 
and  there  is  not  a  word  I  am  saying  which  could  not 
be  illustrated  from  any  part  of  the  mission-field. 
When  the  devil  has  failed  to  keep  people  back  from 
going  out,  his  next  device  is  to  set  them  by  the  ears. 
The  Lord  save  them  from  it. 

Do  not  expect  your  fellow-workers  to  be  perfect. 
We  shall  not  find  them  so!  But  let  us  bear  with  one 
another.  And  then — oh,  must  I  refer  to  it?  I  dare  not 
omit  it ! — if  there  should  arise,  and  God  forbid  it,  fric- 
tion between  those  who  ought  to  love  one  another  in 


THE  TRAINING  OF  CHARACTER  79 

the  Lord,  oh,  fellow  workers,  what  then  ?  Well,  I  have 
had  years  and  years  of  experience  with  colleagues  in 
our  great  home  office  without  a  single  note  of  discord; 
therefore,  my  experience  is  very  small  on  this  point. 
But  I  would  say  to  those  dear  friends  who  are  suffer- 
ing in  this  way,  do  not  let  it  sleep.  Have  it  out,  hum- 
bly, prayerfully,  and  quietly,  face  to  face,  blaming 
yourself  more  than  the  other  side  even  if  you  think 
you  are  not  in  fault,  and  express  your  sorrow  for  any 
pain  given.  And  if  you  fail  after  all  to  move  the  other 
brother,  you  can  still  lay  it  before  the  Lord,  saying, 
"Thou  must  deal  with  this,  for  I  can  do  no  more." 

3.  "I  and  my  Lord."  That  is  the  wrong  way  of 
putting  it,  but  it  is  so  put  for  convenience.  The  work 
is  not  mine,  it  is  my  Lord's.  But  there  are  two  sides 
to  all  great  truths.  There  is  a  striking  passage  in  Acts 
xiv.  I.  Paul  and  Barnabas  came  to  Iconium;  "they 
entered  together  into  the  synagogue  of  the  Jews,  and 
so  spake  that  a  great  multitude  .  .  .  believed."  We 
are  to  speak  and  work  as  if  all  depended  upon  us,  and 
yet  know  all  the  while  that  it  does  not.  There  is  such 
a  thing  as  fatalism  in  leaving  all  to  God  and  forgetting 
our  responsibility.  But  Faith  and  Fatalism  are  not 
the  same  thing.  "Trust  in  the  Lord,"  said  Cromwell, 
"and  keep  your  powder  dry."  Many  interpret  this 
by  saying,  "Take  care  that  the  powder  is  dry,"  and 
they  care  little  about  the  trust.  But  that  is  not  it ;  we 
must  trust  wholly  in  God,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  do 
all  as  if  it  rested  on  ourselves. 

"My  Lord."  He  is  my  Lord,  and  I  am  at  His  dis- 
posal. I  am  to  do  as  He  bids  me.  I  am  not  to  have 
my  own  will.  He  is  entitled  to  my  loving,  loyal,  con- 
tinuous, and  perpetual  service.     He  is  My  Example. 


So  THE  TRAINING  OF  CHARACTER 

Take  the  Gospels;  go  through  them  chapter  by  chap- 
ter, verse  by  verse,  and  put  down  the  practical  way 
the  Lord  acted  in  dealing  with  other  people.  As  an 
example  in  the  training  of  character  see  how  He 
trained  His  disciples'  characters,  and  how  His  own 
character  came  out  during  the  course  of  that  training. 
Lastly,  He  is  My  Saviour.  Back  again  to  Romans  xii. 
How  do  these  exhortations  begin?  You  know  the 
chapter;  it  follows  on  after  that  grandest  theological 
treatise  ever  given  to  men,  those  first  eleven  chapters 
of  Romans.  And  what  is  the  theme  in  them?  The 
theme  is  our  salvation  from  the  penalty  of  sin,  by  the 
atoning  sacrifice  of  Jesus;  salvation  from  the  power 
of  sin  by  the  daily  indwelling  of  the  Spirit;  and  salva- 
tion from  the  presence  of  sin,  when  we  are  taken  up 
to  be  with  the  Lord.  And  then  there  comes  that  mag- 
nificent argument:  "I  beseech  you,  therefore,  breth- 
ren, by  the  mercies  of  God  to  present  your  bodies  a 
living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  to  God,  which  is  your 
reasonable  service."  Then  follow  those  beautiful  pre- 
cepts about  our  being  tenderly  affectioned  one  to  an- 
other, and  so  on.  But  something  else  first.  "Be  not 
fashioned  according  to  this  world,  but  be  ye  trans- 
formed." We  need  it,  do  we  not,  fellow  students? 
We  want  now  the  transformation.  God  grant  it  to  us 
by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  Christ's  sake. 


MENTAL  PREPARATION  FOR  MISSIONARY  WORK1 
PRINCIPAL   T.    W.    DRURY,    M.A.,    LONDON 


The  first  thing  that  strikes  one  in  the  question  be- 
fore us  is  the  unique  position  of  the  missionary.  In 
many  ways  his  work  lies  parallel  to  that  of  the  home 
worker,  but  in  many  it  widely  differs.  We  should  face 
the  problem  fully  before  we  try  to  solve  it.  I  am  not 
sure  that  this  is  always  done  in  the  matter  of  foreign 
missions. 

There  is  the  difference  of  language.  The  mental 
energy,  which  at  home  is  on  the  whole  free  for  other 
uses,  must  partly  be  employed  in  hard  linguistic  study. 
To  use  a  phrase  with  which  we  are  unhappily  too  fa- 
miliar, the  new  language  is  a  "containing  force"  which 
must  for  some  time  detach  a  considerable  part  of  a 
man's  mental  power  from  direct  missionary  effort,  and 
let  us  remember  that  often  two  or  more  new  languages 
must  be  learned. 

Moreover,  the  thoughts  which  the  missionary  has 
to  express  are  such  as  demand  most  careful  expres- 
sion. Every  student  of  the  early  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era  is  only  too  well  aware  of  the  danger  of 
neglecting  this  fact,  and  it  is  confirmed  by  the  experi- 
ence of  those  who  have  been  called  to  act  on  com- 
mittees of  Translation  or  Religion.  The  historic 
Creed  of  Christianity  may,  it  is  true,  be  simply  ex- 


JReport  Student  Volunteer  Convention,  London,  1900. 
81 


82  MENTAL   PREPARATION 

pressed.  But  those  who  really  try  to  get  behind  the 
barrier  of  indifference  or  prejudice  which  stays  the 
advance  of  Gospel  truth,  know  that,  in  order  to  find 
the  human  conscience,  God  the  Holy  Spirit  works  in 
many  ways  and  in  divers  manners  according  to  na- 
tional and  personal  characteristics.  And  in  doing  so 
He  is  pleased  to  honor  and  bless  human  thought. 

Next,  there  is  the  religion,  or  religions  of  the  people. 
We  live  in  an  age  when  weapons  of  precision  are  revo- 
lutionizing the  strategy  of  armies.  The  same  principle 
affects  our  attack  on  Satan's  strongholds.  We  must 
study  his  tactics  if  we  would  conquer  his  legions.  It 
is  increasingly  certain  that  a  missionary  must  not  only 
know  the  Gospel,  but  that  he  must  know  the  systems 
of  religion  which  the  Gospel  is  destined  to  supplant. 

Hardly  less  important  are  the  habits  and  ways  of  a 
foreign  people.  Imagine  that  one  of  the  most  essen- 
tial factors  of  successful  missionary  enterprise  is  a 
knowledge  of  the  people.  To  deal  with  them  as  if  they 
were  the  population  of  an  English  city  or  village  is  to 
face  a  problem  of  which  you  have  not  mastered  the 
most  elementary  details.  Side  by  side  with  the  study 
of  language  and  religion,  there  must  be  the  study  of 
the  social  habits,  and  of  the  thoughts  and  cravings  of 
the  natives  of  a  foreign  land.  "Get  to  know  what 
people  are  thinking  about,"  was  a  piece  of  advice  given 
at  Islington  College  by  the  Bishop  of  Victoria,  which 
I  trust  we  have  never  there  forgotten. 

These  and  many  other  things  press  upon  us  the  cer- 
tain fact  that  the  choice  and  the  probation  and  the 
training  of  our  missionaries  are  matters  which  require 
much  thought  and  much  prayer,  as  well  as  much  com- 
mon sense.     We  want  more  and  more  men,  and  we 


MENTAL   PREPARATION  8$ 

want  more  of  our  best  men  to  face  the  difficult  task 
that  lies  before  us.  It  is  God's  task,  the  task  which 
he  has  set  us,  and  success  is  sure,  but  it  may  be  de- 
layed by  human  slackness  and  error. 

In  a  letter  just  received  from  India,  the  writer  (a 
missionary  of  much  experience)  presses  on  us  the  need 
of  careful  training.  The  Twelve,  he  says,  were  called 
to  be  disciples,  before  they  were  called  to  be  Apostles, 
to  be  fiaOrfrai,  "learners,"  before  they  were  fit  to  be 
aTzoaroXot,  "messengers."  In  other  words  "the  call" 
came  some  time  before  "the  mission."  And  this  is 
the  lesson  which  these  considerations  enforce. 

Let  me  first  make  this  preliminary  remark.  If  the 
mental  training  is  to  be  healthy  and  vigorous,  it  must 
have  its  proper  place  in  relation  to  other  kinds  of  train- 
ing. There  must  be  a  right  proportion  in  our  educa- 
tion. True  education  is  not  one-sided.  It  is  the  draw- 
ing forth  and  putting  into  healthy  action  of  all  the 
powers  of  man,  whether  they  be  of  body,  mind,  or 
spirit.  True  education  may  be  described  in  the  lan- 
guage of  St.  Paul  as  "exercise  unto  godliness,"  and 
it  is  profitable  unto  all  things.  All  partial  exercise 
whether  it  be  of  body  or  of  mind  has  but  a  partial 
profit.  It  is  folly  to  train  the  mind  of  a  young  mis- 
sionary at  the  expense  of  the  body,  and  it  is  not  need- 
less to  say,  even  to  those  training  for  spiritual  work, 
that  bodily  exercise  may  occupy  a  place  disproportion- 
ate to  other  interests. 

It  may  be  asked,  Is  it,  then,  possible  to  overtrain 
the  spiritual  faculties?  The  true  answer  is  that  such 
training  cannot  be  at  its  best  if  other  interests  are  for- 
gotten. You  cannot  neglect  the  mens  sana  in  cor  pore 
sano,  even  in  the  highest  and  holiest  experiences  of 


84  MENTAL   PREPARATION 

life  without  distinct  loss.  The  aim  of  the  Christian 
teacher  is  so  to  train  that  the  whole  man  may  be  grow- 
ing in  all  his  parts  "unto  a  full-grown  man,  unto  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ." 

Again,  much  of  our  education  is  misdirected. 
Teachers  frequently  aim  at  informing  the  mind,  not 
at  education  in  its  true  sense.  It  is  not  what  you  learn 
but  how  you  learn  that  really  tells. 

What  then  is  to  be  the  aim  of  our  training?  It  is 
the  formation  of  character.  It  is  not  so  much  the  mes- 
sage as  the  man  that  must  be  prepared.  The  message 
may  be  all  that  can  be  desired  in  simplicity,  directness 
and  form,  but  it  is  such  a  message  when  backed  by  a 
life  which  calls  forth  sympathy  and  trust,  that  hits  the 
mark.  It  is  the  story  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  doctrine 
of  the  Cross,  told  from  a  heart  that  is  itself  "lightened 
with  celestial  fire,"  that  will  kindle  the  hearts  of  other 
men.  There  have  been  many  cases  where  the  daily 
life  of  the  missionary  has  won  converts  even  "without 
the  Word."  This,  then,  is  our  aim.  We  must  so 
train  the  mind  as  to  form  the  character,  that  is,  we 
must  so  apply  the  "discipline  of  Christ,"  as  to  mould 
the  habits  after  the  example  of  Christ.  It  is  not,  there- 
fore, a  matter  of  imparting  information,  of  cramming 
the  mind  with  facts,  but  what  is  far  more  difficult,  of 
setting  the  current  of  a  man's  intellectual  life  in  a  right 
direction,  of  teaching  him  to  be  a  true  learner,  a  dis- 
ciple in  the  school  of  Christ. 

It  is  easy  to  criticise,  and  still  more  easy  to  talk 
vaguely  of  true  ideals  of  education.  I  will  at  least  try 
to  be  practical  and  to  explain  my  meaning,  when  I 
say  that  the  aim  of  our  education  is  the  formation  of 
character. 


MENTAL   PREPARATION  85 

There  must  be  mental  discipline.  "Think  hard"  was 
the  advice  given  to  the  boys  of  the  South  Eastern  Col- 
lege by  Lord  Kinnaird,  at  a  recent  prize-giving.  It  is 
a  tendency  of  modern  education,  says  a  thoughtful 
writer  of  to-day,  to  make  study  smooth  and  pleasant; 
"the  grooves  and  channels  of  life  are  made  to  tend 
easily  and  naturally  towards  good;"  and  the  "educa- 
tion of  the  will,  the  power  to  breast  the  current  of  our 
desires,  and  to  do  what  is  distasteful  is  much  less 
cultivated." 

We  do  not  deny  that  the  older  form  of  training  was 
too  severe,  and  retained  unconsciously  too  much  of  the 
asceticism  of  medieval  study,  but  there  is  a  great  dan- 
ger of  going  too  far  in  the  other  direction.  Sir  John 
Lubbock,  it  is  true,  places  study  among  the  "pleasures 
of  life,"  yet  no  one  knows  the  real  pleasure  of  study 
who  does  not  put  good  hard  work  into  it.  And  for  the 
missionary  this  is  all-essential.  The  conditions  of 
study  are  for  him  very  trying.  There  is  the  climate, 
there  are  the  insects,  and  so  forth.  He  above  all  men 
must  have  formed  at  school,  in  college,  and  in  the 
home,  the  habit  of  hard  work.  He  must  have  learned, 
by  God's  help,  so  to  discipline  the  will  as  to  breast  the 
current  of  his  desires,  and  to  do  easily  and  gladly  what 
is  often  distasteful.  Mr.  Ruskin  strikes  the  same  note 
when,  in  his  complaint  of  recent  architects  and  build- 
ers, he  says  that  our  modern  work  "has  the  look  of 
money's  worth,  of  a  stopping  short  wherever  and 
whenever  we  can,  of  a  lazy  compliance  with  low  con- 
ditions :  never  of  a  fair  putting  forth  of  our  strength. 
Let  us  have  done  with  this  kind  of  work  at  once." 
And  so  I  plead  that  our  first  aim  should  be  genuine 
discipline  of  the  mind.    We  must  teach  that,  however 


86  MENTAL   PREPARATION 

pleasant  work  may  be,  we  cannot  be  really  cultivating 
our  powers  if  we  are  not  habitually  touching  the  line 
of  sacrifice,  and  following  the  toilsome,  if  not  painful, 
path  of  patient,  concentrated,  and  sustained  study. 
There  is  no  royal  road  to  true  knowledge — Tadrjfiara 
fiaOrjfxara. 

There  must  be  a  true  student  spirit.  ■  Not  to  be 
"learned,"  but  to  be  fond  of  learning,  is  our  aim.  Many 
make  a  great  mistake  as  to  the  end  of  education.  They 
regard  it  as  completed  when  the  doors  of  school  and 
college  have  closed  behind  them.  One  has  heard  of 
"finishing  schools,"  and  of  a  young  lady — I  never 
heard  it  of  a  man — going  abroad  to  "finish  her  educa- 
tion." And  this  is  not  merely  an  inaccurate  phrase. 
Many  young  men  do  regard  school  and  college  work 
as  something  to  be  endured  for  a  time,  while  certain 
useful  facts  and  methods  are  learned,  and  then  to  be 
gladly  dismissed  forever.  Now  this  view  of  education 
will  not  do  for  the  missionary.  You  must  be  students 
to  the  end  of  life.  I  have  been  ctruck  with  this  fact  in 
university  life.  No  one  has  completed  his  education. 
We  are  a  body  of  learners.  Masters  and  professors, 
tutors  and  principals,  graduates  and  undergraduates, 
are  all  students.  Of  course,  there  are  exceptions,  but 
I  think  you  will  find  them  less  among  the  teachers  than 
among  the  taught. 

Some  may  take  alarm  at  the  thought  that  all  mis- 
sionaries must  be  students ;  but  there  is  a  love  of  study 
which  the  most  active  evangelist  cannot  dispense  with. 
Preaching  which  draws  only  on  past  stores  of  knowl- 
edge, or  even  from  present  spiritual  experience  apart 
from  learning,  will,  save  in  exceptional  cases,  wear  thin 
and  lose  its  force. 


MENTAL   PREPARATION  87 

The  following  words  were  spoken  at  the  foundation 
of  the  Church  Missionary  College  by  one  of  the  Found- 
ers of  the.  Church  Missionary  Society,  and  they  show 
what  importance  those  heroes  of  missionary  enterprise 
laid  upon  a  love  of  study  as  a  qualification  of  mission- 
ary work :  "The  union  of  sound  learning  with  Scrip- 
tural piety  is  of  the  last  importance.  If  the  cause 
of  missions  is  to  flourish  there  must  be  a  charac- 
ter of  solid  judgment  and  competent  knowledge  in 
the  missionaries  we  employ.  The  leaders  of  the 
Reformation  were  men  of  deep  piety,  of  devoted  love 
to  the  Saviour,  of  holy  zeal,  but  they  were  men  of 
learning,  too." 

Now  one  of  the  highest  aims  of  the  teacher  is  to 
teach  men  to  love  to  learn.  What  men  love  to  do.  that 
they  will  generally  find  the  means  of  doing,  and  if  we 
who  have  to  teach  can  only  get  men  bitten  with  the 
delight  of  learning,  depend  upon  it  they  will  to  the  end 
of  their  days  remain  students  still.  That  is  what  I 
mean  by  the  student  spirit. 

Let  us  train  men  to  be  seekers  after  truth.  That 
does  not  mean  a  jelly-fish  kind  of  training,  which 
makes  a  man  believe  that  everybody  is  right,  and  no- 
body is  wrong.  It  does  not  mean  that  we  are  not  to 
teach  distinctive  lines  of  doctrine,  and  warn  against 
what  we  believe  to  be  positions  hurtful  to  the  doctrine 
of  the  Atonement,  or  the  authority  of  God's  Word. 
But  while  we  use  the  lines  of  order  and  canons  of  in- 
terpretation which  we  believe  to  be  right,  we  must 
never  tamper  with  a  man's  conscience,  or  with  our  own 
in  applying  them.  If  we  are  to  persuade  men  to  adopt 
our  position  there  must  be  conspicuous  fairness  of 
statement,  and  the  absence  of  that  vicious  habit  of  try- 


88  MENTAL   PREPARATION 

ing  merely  to  score  a  point  rather  than  to  arrive  at  the 
genuine  truth. 

There  must  be  sympathy  in  our  study.  Love  to  God 
and  man  must  be  the  predominant  factor.  The  mere 
student — I  mean  the  man  who  shuts  himself  up  with 
his  books  and  shuts  himself  off  from  the  common  in- 
terests of  life — is  almost  sure  to  become  narrow;  he 
loses  the  true  perspective  of  study,  and  believes  in  no 
methods  but  his  own.  "Knowledge  puffeth  up — love 
edifieth." 

You  who  are  going  to  be  missionaries  must,  there- 
fore, be  trained  not  only  in  the  class-room,  but  also  in 
the  parish.  You  must  live  in  touch  with  real  present- 
day  life.  First  of  all  for  yourselves  you  must  learn  to 
translate  your  newly  acquired  thoughts  into  actual 
practice,  and  test  your  conclusions  by  the  experience 
of  your  daily  life  with  men,  and  your  daily  walk  with 
God.  Directly  a  man  comes  to  believe  in  any  truth, 
that  new-born  faith  should  work  by  love,  and  should 
begin  to  influence  his  own  life  and  his  relations  to 
others.  You  must  remember  that  bookworms  are  not 
ideal  students.  You  must  not  only  study  books,  but 
men.  Strive  to  solve  the  problems  of  life  which  con- 
front you  by  getting  at  the  mind  of  those  with  whom 
you  have  to  do.  Find  out  what  people  are  reading 
about  and  thinking  about,  and  see  how  the  Gospel 
bears  a  message  which  can  adapt  itself  to  present 
needs. 

We  work  at  men's  consciences  too  much  at  random. 
The  most  common  hindrance  to  the  Gospel,  we  are 
told,  is  indifference.  Of  course  it  is,  but  why  are  men 
indifferent?  There  are  various  causes  and  we  must 
find  them  out,  and  sympathy    coupled    with    careful 


MENTAL    PREPARATION  89 

thought  alone  can  do  it.  Don't  be  content  with  saying 
a  man  is  indifferent,  just  as  doctors  are  content  with 
telling  us  we've  got  the  influenza,  but  get  to  the  root 
of  the  matter  if  you  can.  This  was  the  mind  which  we 
see  in  Christ  Jesus,  as  we  watch  Him  dealing  with  the 
anxious  or  indifferent  soul,  and  the  missionary  must 
let  this  mind  be  in  him,  if  he  is  to  get  at  hearts  which 
Satan  is  closing  against  the  truth. 

At  these  three  things  then  you  must  aim,  mental  dis- 
cipline, a  love  of  learning,  and  a  spirit  of  sympathy. 
Let  me  say  three  words  in  conclusion : 

The  study  of  all  studies  for  the  missionary  is  the 
study  of  God's  Word.  That  is  the  training  ground  for 
mind  as  well  as  for  spirit.  I  remember  the  words  of  a 
missionary  to  us  at  Islington,  "Steep  your  minds  in 
Scripture."  I  say  to  all  young  missionaries,  "Steep 
your  minds  in  Scripture."  Learn  all  you  can  about 
the  Bible,  but  above  all,  learn  the  Bible  itself.  I  know 
something  about  examinations  for  Holy  Orders,  and  I 
am  sure  that  these  popular  books  of  introductions  to 
the  Bible,  and  helps  to  the  knowledge  of  every  fact 
about  the  Bible,  however  useful  in  their  proper  places, 
are  hindering  men  from  learning  the  Bible  itself.  The 
Bible  must,  of  course,  be  studied  as  a  whole,  but  it  is 
after  all  the  whole  Bible  that  is  the  Word  of  God,  the 
Sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  we  have  to  wield. 

The  teacher  of  all  teachers  is  God  the  Holy  Ghost. 
I  counsel  all  students  to  pray  definitely,  daily  for  His 
help.  Kneel  down  for  a  few  moments  before  you  open 
your  books  for  study,  seek  His  aid,  and  you  will  never 
study  in  vain.  His  gifts  are  sevenfold,  that  is  to  say, 
they  are  such  as  to  equip  the  humblest,  the  feeblest,  the 
most  peculiar  mind  for  sacred  study  and  consecrated 


90  MENTAL   PREPARATION 

service.  You  are  to  love  God  with  all  your  mind. 
Don't  forget  this.  Offer  your  minds  to  Him,  yield 
your  powers  of  thought  to  His  impulses,  then  do  your 
best  and  He  will  bless  you. 

They  are  weighty  words  in  the  Ordinal  of  the 
Church  of  England — "As  much  as  lieth  in  you,  you  will 
apply  yourselves  wholly  to  this  one  thing,  and  draw  all 
your  cares  and  studies  this  way  ;  and  that  you  will  con- 
tinually pray  to  God  the  Father,  by  the  mediation  of 
our  only  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  heavenly  as- 
sistance of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  that  by  daily  reading  and 
weighing  of  the  Scriptures,  ye  may  wax  riper  and 
stronger  in  your  ministry." 

Above  all  and  last  of  all  we  must  let  our  mental 
training  lead  both  teacher  and  taught  direct  to  Christ. 
My  old  friend,  Dr.  Dyson,  who  was  a  fellow  worker 
for  many  years  at  Islington,  used  often  to  tell  us  that 
what,  after  all,  told  in  converting  men  to  God  was  not 
logic,  not  eloquence,  not  philosophy,  but  the  simple 
story  of  Jesus  Christ  coming  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners.  Yes,  that  is  the  first  thing  and  the  last  thing — 
that  mental  training  is  valueless  for  missionary  work 
which  does  not  teach  men  to  know  more  and  mere,  as 
day  by  day  of  study  passes  by,  of  Jesus  Christ. 

And  so  I  will  close  with  the  hexameter  lines  of  some 
old  monk : 

Si  Christum  discis,  nihil  est  si  cetera  nescis, 
Si  Christum  nescis,  nihil  est  si  cetera  discis. 

In  study,  as  in  everything  else,  make  Christ  your  all 

in  all. 


THE    NEED    OF    THINKERS    FOR    THE    MISSION 
FIELD  l 

REV.  JOHN  CLIFFORD,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  LONDON 

We  feel  acutely  that  "  thinkers  "  are  urgently  called 
for  on  the  mission  field,  and  that  every  missionary 
must  seek  the  highest  education,  and  prepare  himself 
to  understand  the  mental  habits  and  mental  stock  of 
the  people  whose  salvation  he  seeks.  We  have  arrived 
at  a  moment  in  the  development  of  the  missionary 
work  of  the  churches  when  we  need  more  men  who 
will  do  what  Bacon  and  his  successors  have  done  for 
the  study  and  interpretation  and  use  of  Nature ;  what 
Alessandro  Volta  did,  exactly  one  hundred  years  ago, 
for  the  electric  current,  and  what  Faraday  and  his  col- 
leagues have  achieved  for  electrical  science  since. 

We  need  students — men  who  will  work  upon  the 
facts  of  religion  as  Richard  Owen  amongst  fossils  and 
Sir  Joseph  Hooker  on  plants ;  scientific  students,  exact, 
severe,  painstaking,  hating  inaccuracy  as  they  hate  a 
lie,  and  devoted  to  truth;  rigid  in  their  scrutiny  and 
flawless  in  their  reasoning,  never  passing  a  single 
datum  however  repulsive,  nor  accepting  an  illusion 
however  full  of  charm;  eliminating  the  possibility  of 
error  by  the  repetition  of  experiments  and  the  accumu- 
lation of  observations,  and  so  furnishing  the  churches 
and  their  workers  with  that  knowledge  of  the  realities 


Report  Student  Volunteer  Convention,  London,  1900. 
91 


92  NEED   OF   THINKERS 

of  life  without  which  energy  is  wasted,  mistakes  are 
made,  and  work  is  marred. 

1.  The  thinker  is  primarily  an  observer.  To-day  he 
must  be  scientific  or  he  is  of  no  use ;  and  to  be  scientific 
he  must  begin  with  the  observation  of  what  is,  and  of 
all  that  is,  in  religion.  Sitting  in  the  study  spinning 
theories  may  be  exhilarating,  but  it  is  not  scientific. 
We  want  facts — facts  in  the  lives  of  the  founders  of 
religions,  Confucius  and  Zoroaster,  Buddha  and  Mo- 
hammed; facts  in  the  literature  of  religion,  the  sacred 
texts  of  the  Sanscrit,  the  "Conversations"  of  Confucius 
and  the  Koran  of  Mohammed;  and  the  authoritative 
commentaries  of  their  most  distinguished  disciples — 
i.  e.}  we  must  have  scholars,  men  who  know  the  natural 
history  of  religion,  of  Confucianism  and  Parseeism, 
Buddhism,  and  Islamism,  as  Huxley  knew  the  biology 
of  the  horse  or  Tyndall  the  laws  of  light. 

2.  But  he  must  not  be  merely  a  scholar,  stored  with 
the  lore  of  the  sacred  literature  of  religions ;  he  must 
be,  in  Emerson's  phrase,  a  "  scholar  thinking,"  not  a 
bookworm,  not  an  emendator  nor  a  bibliomaniac ;  not  a 
"  worker  subdued  by  his  own  instruments,"  but  a 
student  of  religion  as  it  appears  in  the  lives  of  the 
people,  in  their  curious  customs,  in  their  acts  of  wor- 
ship, their  moods  of  mind,  ways  of  thinking,  and  above 
all,  in  their  individual  and  social  conduct.  The  interval 
between  the  religion  of  the  book  and  the  religion  of 
the  life  is  often  ghastly.  The  sayings  of  the  sages  are 
luminous  and  inspiring ;  the  emptiness  and  sorrow  and 
misery  of  the  people  are  unutterably  pathetic.  He  who 
has  mastered  the  sacred  books  of  the  Chinese  knows 
that  the  ethic  is  lofty  in  standard,  pure  in  tone,  and 
unimpeachable  in  its  truth ;  but  when  he  puts  into  the 


NEED   OF   THINKERS  93 

crucible  the  concrete  Confucianism  of  the  Chinese  of 
to-day  he  finds  that  it  is  a  spent  force,  and  has  no  vital- 
ity. It  is  conservative,  that  is,  it  is  inert,  dead,  and 
therefore  it  must  go,  displaced  by  the  throbbing,  ag- 
gressive vitality  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.1 

3.  Nor  is  this  all;  not,  certainly,  if  we  take  as  our 
pattern  the  great  missionary  of  the  ages — the  Apostle 
Paul.  He  was  not  only  an  eager  student  of  the  whole 
of  God's  revelation,  and  a  scholar  trained  in  the  schools 
of  Tarsus  and  Jerusalem,  but  also  a  philosopher — a 
man  who  penetrated  to  the  secrets  of  thought  and  life, 
sought  out  the  underlying  unities  of  the  religion  of 
Christ  he  had  accepted,  and  the  Mosaism  into  which  he 
was  born ;  and  so  discovered  the  ideas  by  which  he 
could  not  only  aid  the  Jew  in  his  transfer  of  allegiance 
from  Moses  to  Christ,  and  the  Greek  in  realizing  by 
the  Cross  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God, 
but  could  bring  Jew  and  Greek,  bond  and  free  men 


1  "The  student  of  religions  who  has  tried  to  compare  those 
of  India  with  those  of  other  peoples  and  places  soon  finds  that 
religions  wear  a  very  different  aspect  when  seen  on  their  own 
soil  and  under  their  own  sun  from  what  they  have  when  studied 
in  a  library,  as  ancient  or  alien  systems,  through  the  literatures 
they  have  created,  or  in  books  written  to  describe  their  growth 
or  decay.  .  .  .  The  literary  side  of  the  religion  suffered  an 
eclipse,  or,  rather,  was  set  in  a  context  which  seemed  to  de- 
mand a  revised  interpretation,  when  viewed  through  its  actual 
forms  or  in  the  concrete  and  complex  system  it  had  created 
for  the  collective  life.  In  the  face  of  the  religion  regarded  as 
worship  and  custom,  and  the  attitude  to  it  of  the  higher  Hindu 
thought,  I  had  many  a  hard  struggle  with  myself,  criticized 
myself  for  lack  of  insight,  for  intolerance,  for  failure  in  judi- 
cial faculty,  for  indulging  inherited  instincts  and  interests,  for 
applying  standards  to  another  race  and  religion  which  I  dared 
not  apply  to  my  own ;  but,  do  what  I  would,  I  could  not  escape 
from  the  dominion,  or,  rather,  the  tyranny,  of  these  first  vivid 
impressions."  ("Race  and  Religion  in  India."  By  A.  M.  Fair- 
bairn,  D.D.   Contemporary  Review,  Vol.  76,  pj>.  155-56.) 


94  NEED   OF   THINKERS 

and  women,  into  one  great  and  ordered  social  unity  in 
Christ.  The  unities  of  life  are  deep  though  obscured, 
and  real  though  difficult  of  interpretation.  The  affini- 
ties of  religions  are  facts.  The  soul  of  man  is  the  soul 
of  man  all  the  world  over,  and  everywhere  it  is  restless, 
save  as  it  rests  in  God.  Ideas  are  our  real  world,  and 
they  rule  us  as  with  a  rod  of  iron.  Wherever  we  go 
they  go,  and  they  hold  us  in  their  thrall.  Hence  the 
Eastern  mind  is  closed  to  the  Western,  and  the  West- 
ern is  not,  except  in  the  rarest  cases,  and  after  long 
study,  penetrated  by  the  Eastern.1  It  is  the  work  of 
the  missionary  to  dig  down  to  the  fundamentally 
human,  to  the  unquestionably  Divine,  through  all  the 
superimposed  strata  of  historical  religious  customs, 
superstitions,  corruptions,  social  practices,  and  politics. 
We  need  and  must  have  more  men  to  do  this  for  us, 
to  save  us  from  being  misled  by  appearances,  and  from 
applying  false  standards  of  judgment;  to  abate  an- 
tagonisms, economize  resources,  feed  patience,  and 
facilitate  progress  by  enabling  us  to  see  facts  as  they 
really  are. 

4.  A  fourth  function  grows  out  of  these  three.  The 
missionary  who  is  a  scholar,  a  student,  and  a  philoso- 
pher should  also  be  a  master  builder,  gifted  with  con- 
structive ability,  capable  of  solving  the  problems  of 
social  life  and  development  that  rise  up  in  the  mission- 
ary field,  a  master  of  missionary  strategy,  skilled  in 
"  understanding  of  the  times  "  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
able  to  tell  Israel  what  to  do,  so  as  to  secure  in  the 
most  abiding  way,  not  only  the  evangelization,  but  the 
regeneration  of  mankind. 


'Cf.  Dr.  Fairbairn,  ibid.,  pp.  154  et  seq. 


NEED   OF   THINKERS  95 

Erskine  said  the  working-men  of  his  day  had  not 
had  the  message  of  Christ  presented  to  them,  "  except 
in  immoral  form,"  and  therefore  were  not  chargeable 
with  rejecting  it.  However  that  may  have  been,  the 
Christian  Churches  to-day  are  keenly  awake  to  two 
facts — (i)  that  in  order  to  preach  the  Gospel  we  must 
know  it,  in  its  intrinsic  significance,  and  in  its  variety 
and  fulness,  so  as  to  be  able  to  place  its  wealth  over 
against  the  specific  needs  of  the  souls  of  men;  and  (2) 
that  we  must  know,  as  far  as  we  can,  the  mind  of  the 
listener;  his  ideas  of  God  and  religion,  of  sin  and 
duty ;  his  habits  of  thinking,  and  moods  of  feeling ;  the 
investing  religious  atmosphere  in  the  home  and  State, 
and  thus  discover  the  way  in  which  Christ  Jesus  should 
be  presented  so  as  to  inspire  his  confidence  and  win 
his  love. 

Two  unveilings  are  taking  place  just  now:  one  is 
of  the  measureless  wealth  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus,  and 
the  other  is  of  the  wonder,  variety,  complexity,  mystery, 
and  misery  of  the  world  of  man ;  of  the  multitude  of 
races,  so  different  in  blood,  in  capitalized  ideas,  in 
inheritance,  in  moulds  "of  thought,  in  industrial  effort, 
in  political  achievement,  and  in  social  order ;  and  of  the 
terrific  grip  of  the  religions  we  are  seeking  to  displace 
by  the  Christianity  of  Christ.  The  veil  has  been  lifted. 
We  see  man  in  his  multitudinousness  as  we  have  never 
seen  him  before.  Our  missions  have  opened  our  eyes 
and  forced  upon  us  the  wide  range  and  the  unexpected 
difficulty  of  the  task.  We  see  the  radical  differences 
of  condition  in  the  mission  fields,  and  the  amazing 
variety  of  the  work  required.  Our  classification  of  the 
world  into  "  heathen  "  and  "  Christian  "  no  longer  con- 
tents us.     We  cannot  lump  together  Buddhists  and 


96  NEED   OF   THINKERS 

Hindus,  Taoists  and  Brahmins,  Congoese  and  Maoris 
as  though  they  were  all  to  be  treated  alike,  and  the 
man  who  was  fitted  for  Bechuanaland  was  equally  suit- 
able for  Shantung.  There  are  innumerable  kinds  of 
heathen,  and  though  all  need  and  must  have  the  Gospel 
of  Christ ;  yet  each  tribe  has  its  peculiarity,  its  special 
inheritance  of  religious  custom,  and  its  special  diffi- 
culty in  separating  itself  from  the  existing  religion  and 
accepting  the  message  of  Christ. 

We  are  surprised — e.  g.,  to  be  told  that  the  Hindu 
thinks  the  one  thing  the  Englishman  lacks  is  religion. 
He  confesses  that  he  is  a  ruler,  a  magistrate,  a  soldier, 
a  statesman,  but  a  religious  man  he  certainly  is  not. 
So  totally  opposed  are  our  conceptions  and  theirs  of 
what  religion  is.  But  that  is  the  fact,  and  it  is  ex- 
tremely helpful  to  know  it;  it  supplies  us  with  a 
measure  of  what  we  have  to  do  in  evangelizing  the 
polyglot,  metaphysical  and  contradictory  tribes  of  Hin- 
dustan. Half  a  century  ago  the  missionaries'  work 
was  not  understood.  The  impenetrability  of  Hindu 
and  Chinese  men  and  women  to  Western  thought  was 
not  realized.  The  hoary  religions  of  the  wonderful 
East  had  not  been  interpreted.  The  science  of  com- 
parative religions  was  hardly  born,  and  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  Christian  missionaries  were,  sometimes, 
inspired  by  a  blinding  contempt  for  the  faiths  they 
sought  to  supplant. 

That  is  of  the  past.  To-day  the  churches  under- 
stand their  work  better.  We  know  more,  not  merely 
of  the  geography  and  commerce,  of  the  climate  and 
customs  of  the  myriads  of  the  East,  but  of  their  mind 
and  heart,  their  yearnings  and  aspirations,  of  the  roots 
and  fruits  of  their  religious  practices  and  customs,  and 


NEED   OF   THINKERS  97 

therefore  we  look  forward  with  deepening  interest  to 
the  arrival  of  God's  gift  of  men,  called  and  equipped 
and  drilled  by  His  spirit  to  utter  the  Gospel,  not  only 
in  its  fulness  and  sweetness,  but  also  with  such  fault- 
less aptitude  that  it  shall  have  free  course,  and  be 
glorified  in  the  Christianization  of  all  the  people  and 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Of  the  special  and  immediate  aids  the  churches  need 
from  these  thinkers  in  the  mission  field,  I  may  mention 
two  or  three.  Take  Africa.  However  it  may  be  with 
politicians  and  merchants,  the  Churches  say,  we  go  to 
Africa  not  for  our  own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  the 
people,  and  of  all  the  people.  The  "White  Man's  Bur- 
den" is  to  save  his  brethren,  black  and  white  alike ;  and 
what  a  gigantic  task  it  is!  To  weld  together  these 
increasing  and  conflicting  tribes  with  the  Dutch  and 
English,  in  one  just,  free,  and  mutually  helpful  brother- 
hood, to  bring  seven  or  eight  millions  of  blacks  out  of 
their  tribal  antagonisms,  to  lift  them  to  the  level  of  the 
white  races  in  thought  and  ideal,  to  fuse  all  of  them 
together  so  as  to  make  them  a  redeemed  people,  and 
good  and  useful  citizens  of  the  great  Empire.  That  is 
what  has  to  be  done,  and  that  is  what  the  churches  must 
do  for  the  sake  of  the  African  people.  Expansion  of 
Empire  is  vanity  and  death  without  the  evangelization 
of  the  Empire.  Who,  then,  of  you  is  ready  to  follow 
in  the  train  of  Moffat  and  Livingstone,  Mackay  and 
Hannington,  and  give  his  whole  redeemed  being  to 
this  difficult  task  ? 

Dollinger  says,  "  No  founder  of  a  religion  has  ever 
encountered  a  people  or  society  who  in  naive  sim- 
plicity would  allow  themselves  to  be  moved  by  his 
preaching  if  it  contained  an  entirely  new  and  strange 


98  NEED   OF   THINKERS 

revelation.  Nobody,  indeed,  has  ever  undertaken  sim- 
ply to  set  aside  or  eradicate  the  received  religion,  and 
to  substitute  a  totally  new  one  in  its  place."  But  what 
an  amalgam  of  religions  is  presented  to  the  missionary 
in  China!  We  talk  of  Confucianism  as  if  it  were  the 
only  road  marked  on  "  the  map  of  life  "  for  a  China- 
man. But  there  was  a  Confucianism  before  Confucius. 
Taoism  was  there,  and  Buddhism  entered  six  hundred 
years  after  the  birth  of  Confucius.  And  these  three 
faiths,  though  discordant  at  many  points,  have  been 
blended  together;  and  temples  are  found  all  over  the 
Empire  in  which  the  founders  of  the  three  religions 
stand  side  by  side.  If  Dollinger  is  right,  and  history 
asserts  the  truth  of  his  doctrine,  then  our  "  thinkers  " 
must  find  out  the  stones  in  the  old  religions  which 
may  be  used  as  the  foundations  on  which  to  stand  in 
winning  disciples  to  Christ,  just  as  the  writer  of  the 
letter  to  the  Hebrews  seizes  upon  the  abiding  principles 
of  the  Old  Testament  and  shows  how  they  are  set  to  a 
nobler  work  in  Christianity,  in  order  to  fortify  the  faith 
of  the  converts  to  Christianity  in  their  allegiance  to 
Christ.  Who,  then,  will  follow  in  the  train  of  Morison 
and  Legge,  Burns  and  Timothy  Richard,  in  the  effort 
to  discover  the  points  of  contact  between  the  three 
religions  of  China  and  Christianity;  in  showing  pre- 
cisely what  Christianity  does  and  does  not  reject,  what 
corrections  and  qualifications  it  introduces,  and  what 
is  the  character  and  content  of  the  addition  it  makes, 
and  so  facilitate  the  transition  from  the  inherited  faith 
to  the  clearer  and  fuller  teaching  of  Christ  ? 

But  it  is  impossible  to  enumerate  the  subjects  in  the 
mission  field  calling  for  the  immediate  service  of 
thinking  men;  such  as  (1)  the  best  treatment  of  the 


NEED   OF   THINKERS  99 

rapid  changes  of  thought  and  method  in  Japan;  (2) 
the  effect  of  the  recent  introduction  of  the  Theosophy 
of  the  United  States  and  England  into  the  dead  body 
of  religion  in  India  and  Ceylon,  rousing  Buddhism  to 
a  momentary  power,  and  clothing  it  with  a  fleeting 
authority;  (3)  the  demonstration  from  a  century 
crowded  with  experiments  conducted  in  the  laboratory 
of  missions,  of  the  true,  the  most  economical  and 
effective  methods  of  work  in  such  different  fields  as 
amongst  the  Maoris  of  New  Zealand,  the  Agnostics  of 
Calcutta,  the  Mahatmas  of  Thibet,  and  the  Indians  of 
North  America;  (4)  the  proof  from  "fruits"  as  to 
what  doctrines  are  harmful  and  what  helpful  to  indi- 
vidual manhood,  the  creation  of  a  new  social  order  and 
the  advance  of  the  Kingdom  of  God;  and  (5)  the 
preparation  of  a  convincing  argument  for  the  measure- 
less superiority  of  Christianity  by  accumulating  and 
arranging  the  evidences  which  show  that  it  omits  no 
good  quality  in  any  religion,  is  free  from  the  errors 
and  defects  of  each  religion,  and  has  in  its  Founder 
qualities  and  forces  which  no  other  religion  possesses, 
and  which  all  other  religions  together  do  not  equal. 

I  read  a  day  or  two  ago  that  the  "  greatest  need  of 
our  missionary  societies  is  men,  fully  qualified  men. 
When  would-be  missionaries  seek  appointment  to  the 
foreign  field,  it  is  discovered  in  many  instances  that 
there  is  some  reason  for  not  commissioning  them, 
either  because  of  lack  of  full  preparation  or  of  fitness 
in  other  ways."  Is  that  true?  Do  the  men  of  highest 
education  hold  back  ?  Is  not  Christ  winning  the  think- 
ers? I  know  the  campaign  for  money  cannot  be 
dropped ;  but  the  most  urgent  campaign  is  for  men, 
Christian  men ;  out  and  out  Christian  men ;  men  like 


IOO  NEED   OF   THINKERS 

Moody,  ready  to  say,  they  "  will  show  the  world  what 
God  can  do  with  a  wholly  consecrated  man" ;  men  who, 
like  Paul,  have  faith  and  patience  enough  to  go  to 
Arabia,  and  meditate  on  the  revelations  of  God  to  their 
souls,  and  adjust  them  to  all  they  knew  before;  men 
like  Buddha,  who  spent  six  years  of  probationary 
studies  into  the  mysteries  of  life,  reading  over  and  over 
the  tear-stained  book  of  poor  men's  souls  ;  men  who  will 
not  "  muddle  through  "  their  work,  but  will  find  out 
the  strategic  points  and  occupy  them,  and  so  make  the 
best  and  biggest  of  themselves  for  the  God  who  has 
redeemed  them  by  the  sacrifice  of  His  Son,  and  con- 
secrated them  to  the  service  of  the  world  by  the  gift  of 
His  Spirit.  God  Himself  says,  "  Who  will  go  for  Me, 
and  whom  shall  I  send?  " 

"When  the  first  Napoleon  suddenly  found  himself 
among  the  quicksands  of  the  Red  Sea,  he  ordered  his 
generals  to  ride  out  in  so  many  opposite  directions,  and 
the  first  who  arrived  on  firm  ground  to  call  on  the  rest 
to  follow.  This  is  what  we  may  ask  of  all  the  various 
schemes  and  agencies — all  the  various  inquiries  after 
truth  now  in  work  in  all  the  different  branches  and 
classes  of  Christendom — '  Ride  out  amongst  those 
quicksands !  Ride  out  in  the  most  opposite  directions, 
and  let  him  that  first  finds  out  solid  ground  call  out  to 
us !  It  may  perchance  be  the  very  ground  in  the  midst 
of  their  quaking  morass  where  we  shall  be  able  to  stand 
firm  and  move  the  world.'  M1 

Mary  Lyon  said :  "  If  you  want  most  to  serve  your 
race,  go  where  no  one  else  will  go,  and  do  what  no  one 


*Dean  Stanley,  in  "Chips  from  a  German  Workshop."    Max 
Miiller.    Vol.  iv.,  p.  307. 


NEED   OF   THINKERS  IOI 

else  will  do."  Look  for  positions  that  will  make  the 
heaviest  demands  on  your  self-sacrifice,  test  the  fibre 
of  your  sainthood  most  severely ;  and  remember  every 
inch  of  your  journey  that  "  God  can  accomplish  won- 
ders through  a  man  if  he  will  only  get  low  enough  to 
let  Him  use  him." 


SOME    STUDIES     SUGGESTED    FOR    MISSIONARY 
CANDIDATES 

REV.  J.   H.  BERNARD,  D.D.,  DUBLIN 

In  the  case  of  men  who  have  undertaken,  if  God 
permit,  to  consecrate  their  lives  to  the  foreign  field,  we 
may  assume  that  their  sympathies  have  already  been 
enlisted,  and  that  therefore  they  will  naturally  read  a 
good  deal  of  missionary  literature,  and  gain  a  good  deal 
of  information  as  to  the  details  of  what  is  being  done. 
There  is  no  need  to  tell  them  to  do  that.  But  there 
are  probably  three  lines  of  reading  which  they  ought 
particularly  to  keep  before  them : 

I.  They  should  not  neglect  the  study  of  the  ancient 
missionary  work  of  the  Church,  in  the  days  when  the 
Church  was  young  and  rejoicing  in  the  new  life  which 
she  had  received,  in  the  days  when  she  was  the  only 
witness  for  truth  and  goodness  and  purity  in  a  world 
which  had  lost  faith,  even  in  itself.  History  often  re- 
peats itself,  and  it  may  be  that  the  methods  of  mission- 
ary work  which  were  so  marvelously  blessed  in  an- 
cient days  may  be  methods  which  we  could  apply  with 
profit  to  our  own.  It  will  be  a  real  advance  in  mission- 
ary education  to  have  gained  a  clear  view  of  the 
methods  adopted  by  the  Heralds  of  the  Cross  in  the 
past.  The  method  of  St.  Paul — for  he  had  a  method — 
have  we  tried  to  understand  that?    His  work  was  not 


Report  Student  Volunteer  Convention,  London,  1901. 
102 


SUGGESTED   STUDIES  103 

taken  up  in  any  haphazard  fashion,  but  we  cannot  doubt 
was  organized  with  the  most  anxious  care.  Or,  again, 
it  has  often  occurred  to  me — I  may  be  wrong,  but  let 
me  put  it  to  you — that  the  methods  adopted  by  Chris- 
tian teachers  in  the  second  and  third  centuries  as  they 
labored  in  the  face  of  the  prejudice,  hatred  and  con- 
tempt openly  expressed  for  them  by  the  official  au- 
thorities of  the  Roman  Empire  may  have  deep  lessons 
for  those  of  our  brethren  who  are  now  working  in  a 
country  like  China,  where  the  conditions  seem  to  be 
not  wholly  dissimilar.  How  to  sow  the  seed  of  the 
Gospel  without  exciting  the  open  hostility  of  the  many 
enemies  to  which  a  strange  religion  must  be  exposed, 
in  a  land  where  tradition  and  custom  have  consecrated 
much  that  is  base  and  cruel  and  impure — that  is  a 
problem  upon  which  the  study  of  ancient  missionary 
method  may  throw  much  light.  Or,  once  more,  an 
Irishman  may  be  forgiven  if  he  thinks  that  the  study 
of  the  methods  pursued  in  the  middle  ages  by  his  own 
countrymen,  St.  Columba  in  Scotland,  St.  Aidan  in 
the  north  of  England,  St.  Columbanus  and  his  eager 
band  of  comrades  on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  methods 
so  signally  blessed  by  God,  may  be  not  without  lessons 
for  us  all.  How  to  live,  and  if  need  be,  how  to  die. 
As  we  look  back,  we  find  the  answer  suggested  by  the 
lives  and  deaths  of  the  great  cloud  of  witnesses,  with 
which  every  missionary  of  the  Cross  is  compassed 
about. 

2.  That  is  the  first  thing  I  w7ould  venture  to  sug- 
gest— the  study  of  ancient  missionary  organization. 
And  the  second  is  the  study  of  the  great  non-Christian 
religions  of  the  world,  the  religions  which,  we  believe, 
are  in  the  end  to  give  place  to  the  religion  of  the  Cross 


104  SUGGESTED   STUDIES 

and  the  Crucified.  For  we  dare  not  forget,  while  we 
call  attention — and  rightly  call  attention  to  the  imper- 
fections, the  superstitions,  the  corruptions  plain  to  see 
in  these  ancient  religions — we  dare  not  forget,  I  say, 
that  they  are  religions — that  no  matter  how  bad  or  de- 
graded they  may  seem,  they  are  still  religions.  They 
are  the  expression  of  man's  longing  after  the  Eternal 
Power,  above  and  around  us,  which  is  planted  by  the 
Eternal  Father  in  the  heart  of  man.  And  before  we 
begin  to  expose  all  that  is  evil  and  base  in  these  poor 
thoughts  of  God,  let  us  in  God's  name  try  to  under- 
stand them.  Let  us  try  to  find  the  grain  of  gold  in  the 
dross  which  hides  it.  I  know  that  this  is  hard  enough 
at  times  to  find ;  but  it  must  be  there,  if  it  be  true  that 
God  has  never,  never  left  Himself  without  a  witness 
among  men.  "  All  truth,"  said  St.  Augustine,  "  comes 
from  Him  Who  said,  '  I  am  the  Truth.'  "  That  is  it. 
Though  there  be  only  fragments  of  truth  elsewhere, 
yet  in  Christ  we  have  the  very  Truth  itself,  and  all  the 
Truth,  could  we  but  discern  it.  The  study  of  the 
ancient  religions  of  the  world,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to 
learn  it  from  books,  cannot  but  be  an  important  equip- 
ment for  the  missionary  of  the  Truth. 

It  is  not  given  to  every  man  to  be  a  master  of  lan- 
guages, other  than  his  own,  and  there  are  often  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  attempting  the  study  of  languages, 
like  Chinese  or  Arabic,  before  the  foreign  field  is 
reached.  Yet  there  must  be,  here  and  there  in  our  Uni- 
versities, among  the  Student  Volunteers,  one  or  two 
men  who  could  do  more  profitable  service  to  the  cause 
of  missions  by  a  diligent,  thorough  and  patient  study, 
let  me  say  of  Arabic,  than  in  any  other  way.  Indian 
missionaries  have  told  me — it  has  been  said  in  print — 


SUGGESTED   STUDIES  105 

that  one  of  the  great  needs  at  present  of  those  who  are 
engaged  in  the  controversy  with  Mohammedanism  is 
a  critical  edition  of  the  Koran  by  a  Christian  scholar, 
which  shall  point  out  the  sources  from  which  its  puerili- 
ties are  derived.  It  is  all  but  impossible  for  men 
who  are  struggling,  short-handed,  to  get  through  the 
day's  work  abroal,  to  find  time  for  such  an  enterprise. 
Is  it  unreasonable  to  think  that  in  this  great  assembly 
of  students  there  may  be  one — perhaps  of  our  own 
race,  perhaps  from  Germany,  that  nursery  of  scholars 
— one  who  could  take  up  this  sorely  needed  task  in 
downright  earnest  and  consecrate  the  talents  with 
which  God  has  endowed  him  to  furthering  the  advance 
in  missionary  education  in  this  way  ? 

3.  I  pass  to  the  third  point,  more  important  than 
either  of  the  two  of  which  I  have  spoken.  And  that 
is  the  great  value  to  a  foreign  missionary  of  a  syste- 
matic and  close  study  of  Christian  theology.  Much  has 
been  done  in  the  past,  of  course,  by  uneducated  or  half- 
educated  men.  There  is  no  weapon  but  may  be  used  in 
this  warfare.  But  if  a  man  is  to  preach  the  Christian 
Creed  with  effectiveness  in  the  teeth  of  opposition,  it 
must  not  only  have  touched  his  heart  and  conscience, 
but  his  intellect  as  well.  He  must  have  tried  to  master 
its  exact  meaning,  its  exact  proportions.  He  must  be 
able  to  explain  it,  as  well  as  to  preach  it. 

More  than  once  it  has  happened  to  me  to  have  re- 
ceived letters  from  missionaries  in  the  East,  asking  for 
advice  as  to  points  which  had  been  raised  in  argument 
by  Mohammedans ;  hard  questions  as  to  our  Lord's 
twofold  nature,  His  Divinity,  His  sinlessness,  His  free- 
dom from  temptation,  and  the  like.  They  were  ques- 
tions which  my  correspondents,  though  well  educated 


106  SUGGESTED   STUDIES 

men,  had  not  seriously  considered  before.  They  are 
not  problems  which  present  themselves  as  a  difficulty 
to  the  practical  intellect  of  the  West.  Now  what  was 
the  fact  ?  Every  one  of  these  questions  had  been  raised 
and  argued  about  and  answered — so  far  as  they  can  be 
answered — 1,500  years  ago,  during  the  great  intellec- 
tual upheaval  which  distressed  the  Church  in  the  fourth 
and  fifth  century.  I  know  that  many  men  think  the 
problems  raised  at  the  great  Councils  of  Christendom 
at  Ephesus  and  Chalcedon  are  quite  irrelevant  to  pres- 
ent needs.  They  will  not  say  so  when  they  have  had 
some  practical  experience  of  controversy  with  Moham- 
medan scholars.  The  Eastern  mind  is  just  the  same 
now  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Athanasius,  and  we  shall 
do  unwisely,  if  we  think  that  we  can  escape,  in  India 
and  Africa  at  least,  from  facing  the  difficulties  which 
Christian  men  had  to  face  then. 

We  might  well  learn  a  lesson  from  the  Mohamme- 
dans in  this  matter.  For  Mohammedanism  is  a  great 
missionary  religion ;  its  adherents  believe  in  it  with 
fervor  and  practise  its  precepts  with  devotion.  And 
their  efforts  to  spread  the  creed  of  Islam  might  often 
put  us  to  shame,  who  prefer  to  believe  the  Creed  of 
creeds.  At  the  great  Mohammedan  College  in  Cairo, 
where  there  are  said  to  be  10,000  men,  all  preparing 
for  active  missionary  work  in  the  future,  there  is,  as  I 
am  informed,  the  most  anxious  labor  expended  upon 
teaching  the  students,  with  painful  and  minute  accu- 
racy, every  jot  and  tittle  of  the  creed  of  the  Koran. 
We  shall  not  be  wise  if  we  send  forth  our  men  less 
perfectly  equipped  in  regard  to  the  Creed  of  the  Bible, 
the  Faith  of  Christ  our  Saviour. 

There  is  only  one  other  thing  I  want  to  say.    There 


SUGGESTED   STUDIES  Io7 

is  need  of  advance  in  missionary  education  for  us  all, 
whether  we  work  at  home  or  abroad,  in  one  other 
direction — I  mean  in  the  enlargement  of  our  missionary 
ideal.  What  is  the  ultimate  ideal  which  we  are  setting 
before  ourselves  in  all  this  missionary  enterprise? 
What  is  it  we  hope  to  do?  To  preach  the  Gospel  ail 
the  world  over  in  this  generation  ?  Yes,  but  is  that  all  ? 
Is  that  the  ultimate  ideal?  Nay.  The  evangelization 
of  the  world  is  not  the  Christianization  of  the  world. 
It  is  only  the  first  step,  and  though  it  is  the  first  step 
which  costs,  we  must  not  stop  short  here.  What  do  we 
look  for  and  pray  for?  That  the  world  may  be  won 
for  Christ.  Aye,  surely,  but  that  is  not  to  pray  that  the 
world  may  be  won  for  any  particular  form  of  Western 
Christianity.  To  win  the  world  for  Christ;  that  is  a 
larger  ideal  than  to  gain  it  over  to  our  own  way  of 
thinking.  We  have  failed  to  understand  the  magni- 
ficence of  the  thought  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ,  if  we 
are  accustomed  to  hope,  as  the  end  of  our  efforts,  for 
the  establishment  in  every  quarter  of  the  world  of 
Christian  communities  in  all  respects  like  our  own. 

Do  we  then  suppose  that  we  have  the  whole  truth, 
that  we  have  exhausted  the  fulness  of  the  revelation 
made  in  Christ  ?  Something  of  it  we  know  and  under- 
stand, and  it  is  enough  to  live  by — enough  to  bear  us 
beyond  the  gates  of  death  with  courage.  But  surely 
we  cannot  think  that  any  single  branch  of  Christ's 
Church  here  on  earth  has  so  fully  entered  into  the 
mind  of  her  Lord  that  she  understands  all  His  message, 
that  she  has  extracted  from  His  revelation  all  the  good 
news  it  contains  ?  Nay,  as  Bishop  Westcott  once  said, 
when  we  go,  in  person  or  by  our  delegates,  to  heathen 
lands,  we  go  not  only  to  bring  a  gift,  but  to  claim  an 


108  SUGGESTED   STUDIES 

offering.  We  go  to  unlock  the  Temple,  the  treasure 
house  from  which  each  race  of  man  may  appropriate 
the  truth  which  it  can  use  best.  And  it  is  the  sum  of 
these  treasures,  the  sum  of  these  truths,  that  is  the  full 
Gospel. 

The  Christianity  of  the  East  can  never  be  exactly 
the  same  as  the  Christianity  of  the  West,  for  every 
race  of  men  has  its  own  needs,  its  own  talents,  its  own 
powers.  Japan  is  not  Africa,  any  more  than  it  is 
England.  And  no  member  of  the  body  can  say  to  any 
other  member,  "  I  have  no  need  of  you."  Each  is 
essential  to  the  perfection  of  the  whole.  The  ideal  of 
missionary  effort  is  not  only  that  we  may  "  tell  it  out 
among  the  heathen  that  the  Lord  is  King,"  but,  as  the 
Psalmist  says  elsewhere,  that  "  the  kings  of  Arabia 
and  Saba  may  bring  gifts"  that  they  may  bring  back 
to  the  treasury  of  Christ,  multiplied  a  thousandfold, 
the  gifts  that  they  have  received.  It  is  for  us  to  do  our 
part  with  the  gift  which  is  our  own.  And  it  is  by  each 
nation,  each  national  Church,  each  household  in  the 
family  of  God,  offering  its  own  gift  for  the  good  of 
all,  that  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  shall  be  set  up  on  earth, 
even  as  it  is  in  heaven,  that  the  peace  of  the  Church, 
the  unity  of  Christendom  shall  be  reached.  That  is 
our  ideal,  and  as  we  hope  and  pray  for  it,  the  splendid 
phrases  of  the  Benedictus  ring  in  our  ears  with  a  joyful 
message  of  hope,  for  they  tell  us  that  to  carry  the  light 
to  them  that  sit  in  darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of  death 
shall  at  last  guide  our  feet — our  feet — into  the  way 
of  peace. 


BROAD  CULTURE  DEMANDED  OF  MISSIONARIES1 

REV.  J.  H.  DE  FOREST,  D.D.,  OF  JAPAN 

Before  saying  anything  about  the  culture  needed, 
it  is  necessary  to  have  some  clear  ideas  of  the  condi- 
tion of  these  great  historic  nations  of  the  East.  Japan, 
of  course,  is  the  most  progressive.  So  well  up-to-date 
is  this  nation  in  its  system  of  laws,  in  education,  in 
moral  ideals,  that  all  the  great  nations  of  the  West 
have  contracted  equal  treaties  with  it.  This  is  a  most 
remarkable  fact.  Here  is  the  first  non-Christian  nation 
that  has  ever  been  acknowledged  by  Christian  States 
as  a  political  equal.  Here  is  the  first  nation  outside  of 
Christianity  to  have  a  constitution  that  recognizes  re- 
ligious liberty  as  among  the  natural  rights  of  man. 
To  be  a  missionary  in  such  a  land  is  something  quite 
different  from  the  old  idea  of  "going  to  preach  to  the 
heathen." 

China  also,  with  her  four  hundred  millions,  is  a  na- 
tion whose  beginnings  are  lost  in  dim  antiquity. 
Though  not  progressive  like  Japan,  the  Chinese  largely 
gave  Japan  the  intellectual  and  moral  stimulus  without 
which  modern  Japan  would  never  have  been.  The 
culture  of  which  China  justly  feels  proud  necessitates 


The  Student  Volunteer,  New  York,  November,  1896. 
109 


HO  BROAD    CULTURE    DEMANDED 

culture  on  the  part  of  all  who  would  teach  the  supreme 
revelation  of  God  through  Christ  to  that  people.  Then 
there  is  India,  with  its  vast  mixed  populations,  in 
which  is  found  every  degree  of  culture  as  well  as  of 
degradation.  All  these  peoples  of  the  East  have  their 
standards  of  civilization,  their  ethical  systems  well 
wrought  out,  and  their  religious  ideas  that  are  older 
than  our  Christianity.  And  though  their  moral  stand- 
ards are  different  from  ours,  and  below  ours,  yet  theirs 
have  had  a  conserving  power  by  which  family  and 
social  life  has  been  maintained,  and  in  the  strength  of 
Which  immense  nations  have  been  developed  and  held 
together  longer  than  any  others  on  the  earth. 

Such  peoples  should  have  missionaries  of  the  broad- 
est culture.  Not  that  it  is  impossible  for  an  occasional 
man  or  woman  of  iimited  intellectual  attainments  to 
develop  into  a  splendid  missionary,  but  such  are  rare 
exceptions,  and  no  Board  will  weaken  itself  by  de- 
liberately sending  out  such  people.  Without  attempt- 
ing to  exhaust  this  great  subject,  I  will  briefly  mention 
a  few  things  that,  in  my  judgment,  should  form  a  part 
of  the  intellectual  equipment  of  the  modern  missionary. 

He  should  have  some  knowledge  of  international 
lazv.  It  was  my  privilege  some  years  ago  to  meet  Dr. 
Cyrus  Hamlin,  and  after  hearing  his  inimitable  stories 
concerning  the  beginnings  of  missionary  work  in  Con- 
stantinople, I  said:  "Dr.  Hamlin,  I  see  now  why  you 
are  called  a  great  missionary.  It  isn't  because  you 
know  the  Bible  better  than  others,  nor  is  it  on  account 
of  your  preaching  ability,  but  it  is  because  you  know 
the  methods  of  international  intercourse,  and  the  in- 
fluence of  the  legations,  and  how  to  use  them."  His 
reply  was,  "Well,  I  knew  nothing  about  international 


BROAD  CULTURE  DEMANDED  1 1 1 

law  when  I  went  out,  but  I  soon  discovered  that  if  I 
was  to  accomplish  anything,  I  must  learn  it." 

The  missionary  lives  as  an  alien  in  a  land  that  has 
treaties  with  his  own,  and  he  must  at  least  know  the 
kind  of  treaty  under  which  he  is  permitted  to  work, 
and  something  of  the  authority  and  duties  of  his  min- 
ister, the  consul-general,  and  the  consuls.  In  ex- 
territorial lands  this  is  especially  important,  not  so 
much  for  the  sake  of  standing  up  for  his  rights,  for 
the  missionary  who  forever  insists  on  his  rights  is  a 
poor  stick,  but  for  the  opportunity  it  gives  for  acquir- 
ing influence,  of  avoiding  embarrassing  mistakes,  and 
of  enriching  his  teaching  and  preaching  with  telling 
illustrations.  There  are  a  few  missionaries  whose 
ignorance  of  these  things  has  led  them  into  serious 
errors  that  have  nearly  ruined  their  influence  for  life. 
There  are  others  who,  had  they  known  the  principles 
of  international  law,  might  have  doubled  their  Chris- 
tian influence  by  some  timely  publication  in  a  native 
paper,  or  by  public  addresses.  There  are  some  treaties 
that  discuss  the  classes  "missionaries  and  merchants," 
and  there  are  others  that  do  not  mention  them.  No 
man  can  study  the  development  of  the  treaties  of  the 
nation  in  which  he  works  without  being  a  broader 
minded  man,  and,  it  is  well  to  add,  without  being 
better  able  to  teach  the  great  and  inspiring  doctrine  of 
the  brotherhood  of  the  race. 

The  missionary  of  to-day  should  understand  com- 
parative religion.  We  can  no  longer  treat  the  old  re- 
ligions according  to  traditional  methods.  The  time 
was  when  these  religions  were  regarded  as  instruments 
of  the  devil  to  hold  the  people  in  darkness  and  in 
bondage  to  superstition.    Later  on  they  were  treated 


112  BROAD    CULTURE   DEMANDED 

as  merely  natural  and  as  obstacles  to  the  acceptance 
of  revealed  religion.  Under  these  views,  to  destroy 
seemed  to  be  the  aim  of  the  missionary.  But  the  re- 
ligions of  these  great  Eastern  nations  are  being  studied 
with  the  newer  thought  that,  in  the  Providence  of  God, 
they  have  a  place  in  the  education  of  the  race.  God  has 
put  in  man  universally  an  imperishable  religious  spirit, 
a  light  that  lighteth  every  one.  And  though  these  re- 
ligions have  fostered  much  of  error  and  superstition 
and  cruelty  and  sin,  yet  they  contain  gleams  of  light 
that  prove  them  to  be,  to  some  degree,  revelations  of 
the  one  living  and  true  God.  They  have  done  much 
good.  They  have  supported  systems  of  ethics  that, 
in  spite  of  their  imperfections,  have  enabled  the  people 
to  come  up  out  of  savagery  and  barbarism,  into  social 
and  national  life.  So  the  missionary  has  a  profound 
and  practical  problem  before  him :  What  is  God's  plan 
in  these  great  religions?  Of  what  use  have  they  been 
so  far?  Have  they  aided  in  the  development  of  the 
conscience,  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  family,  in  produc- 
ing peaceful  relations  between  communities,  in  quick- 
ening virtues,  in  fostering  art  ?  What  have  they  failed 
to  accomplish,  and  what  positive  evil  have  they 
wrought?  The  modern  missionary  must  deal  with 
these  questions  with  the  deepest  sympathy  and  not 
merely  as  a  philosopher.  He  must  have  the  spirit  of 
the  Master  who  came  "not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfill." 

Another  important  branch  of  study  is  the  character- 
istics of  the  people.  To  assume  that  human  nature  is 
the  same  everywhere,  and  then  to  preach  to  Asiatics 
just  as  you  would  to  your  own  people,  is  to  labor  for 
nought.  Human  nature  is  the  same  at  the  bottom,  but 
it  appears  in  endless  variations.    To  study  the  language 


BROAD   CULTURE   DEMANDED  113 

so  as  to  be  able  to  use  it  with  power,  is  a  duty  that  is 
always  emphasized.  But  to  study  the  people  is  fully 
as  necessary.  To  learn  their  characteristics  is  the  work 
of  years  of  thoughtful  observation  and  careful  reading 
of  their  history.  No  teacher  in  his  own  country  is  a 
marked  success  unless  he  studies  his  pupils.  Every 
good  preacher  must  know  his  parishioners.  None  the 
less  essential  to  the  missionary's  success  is  an  exact 
knowledge  of  the  characteristics  of  the  people  about 
him.  That  this  is  no  easy  task  is  seen  from  the  fact 
that  it  took  Emerson  years  of  contact  with  Englishmen 
by  correspondence  and  by  repeated  visits  to  England, 
before  he  ventured  to  write  his  English  Traits.  Vastly 
harder  is  it  to  learn  the  traits  of  these  Eastern  races, 
whose  traditions  and  customs,  language  and  laws, 
morals  and  religions  are  so  different  from  ours.  To 
get  accustomed  to  their  ways  of  looking  at  things,  to 
think  as  they  do,  to  enter  into  their  real  life,  and  see 
as  a  native  sees,  this  is  as  necessary  as  it  is  to  have  a 
divine  message  to  deliver. 

Modem  theological  thought  must  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration. The  missionary  cannot  afford  to  ignore 
evolutionary  philosophy,  new  historical  knowledge 
or  advances  in  psychology.  His  library  should  keep 
abreast  of  the  times.  He  should — and  I  cannot  say 
it  too  emphatically — know  the  fundamental  truths  in 
such  a  way  that  no  changes  of  thought  can  rob  him 
of  their  power  and  glory.  Nay,  he  should  make 
every  advance  of  knowledge  contribute  to  the  rich- 
ness and  inspiration  of  his  message.  The  mission- 
ary ceases  to  be  a  missionary  as  soon  as  he  doubts 
that  he  has  a  message  that  is  eternal.  But  move- 
ments in  the  religious  world  have  come  to  be  world 


114  BROAD    CULTURE   DEMANDED 

movements,  and  people  of  intelligence  out  here   feel 
their  force  almost  as  soon  as  they  are  felt  at  home. 

No  one  need  be  discouraged  by  these  demands.  It 
is  not  meant  that  one  should  be  proficient  in  all  these 
great  lines  before  he  goes  to  a  foreign  field.  "A  man 
of  consecration  and  average  ability  can  accomplish 
wonders."  Brilliance  and  oratorical  gifts  are  not  neces- 
sary. But  patience,  perseverance,  a  yielding  yet  deter- 
mined mind,  a  purpose  to  conquer  difficulties,  the 
knack  of  making  friends  instead  of  enemies,  the  art  of 
being  polite,  are  all  necessary  parts  of  the  culture  every 
missionary  should  have. 


PREPARATION  FOR  THE  MISSION    FIELD   GAINED 
THROUGH  PERSONAL  WORK1 

REV.    HARLAN    P.    BEACH,    M.A.,    NEW    YORK 

The  phrase,  ''personal  work,"  as  here  used  does  not 
signify,  merely,  effort  with  individuals  looking  toward 
their  conversion,  but  in  addition  such  other  forms  of 
individual  work  as  missionary  candidates  will  need  to 
do  on  the  field. 

1.  Convincing  persons  not  interested  in  missions  or 
openly  hostile  to  them  of  the  importance  of  the  cause 
is  a  part  of  the  missionary's  duty  on  shipboard,  in 
foreign  ports  and  oftentimes  at  interior  stations.  It  is 
the  supposed  value  of  the  testimony  of  such  critics  that 
has  largely  brought  missions  into  disrepute.  Prepare 
your  strongest  batteries  for  such  opponents,  and  use 
them  in  personal  conversation  with  similar  sceptics  in 
America.  Many  of  them  are  hostile  through  ignorance. 
Dispel  that  ignorance  by  cogent  arguments  based  on 
telling  facts  gathered  from  general  missionary  reading 
or  massed  in  Liggins'  "Great  Value  and  Success  of 
Foreign  Missions." 

2.  Prepare  for  future  usefulness  by  learning  the  art 
of  raising  funds  for  special  enterprises  abroad.  When 
in  India  and  China,  or  in  a  locality  where  foreign  mer- 


lTh<e  Student  Volunteer,  New  York,  June,  1895. 
"5 


Il6   PREPARATION  GAINED  THROUGH  PERSONAL  WORK 

chants  reside,  much  work  can  be  sustained  by  soliciting 
personal  contributions  for  specific  objects.  Study  your 
man  here  just  as  you  would  there,  and  secure  money  for 
that  which  appeals  to  him.  Such  experience  will  aid 
you  also  when  home  on  furlough  and  obliged  to  do 
more  or  less  financial  work. 

3.  Learn  how  to  deal  with  individuals  who  have 
backslidden.  Many  such  cases  will  be  yours  when  a 
strange  language  and  foreign  modes  of  thought  hamper 
you.  Any  cases  successfully  dealt  with  at  home  will 
prove  so  much  capital  abroad.  For  this  work  the  same 
admonitions  and  Bible  passages  can  be  used  there  as 
here.  Study,  therefore,  as  many  cases  as  possible  in 
the  full  light  of  the  Word,  and  then  work  and  pray 
them  through  to  a  successful  issue. 

4.  Another  frequent  duty  of  the  missionary  is  that  of 
settling  differences  among  Christians.  Do  you  not 
know  some  such  cases  in  your  own  church?  Great 
wisdom,  unbounded  tact,  the  help  of  third  parties,  skil- 
full  use  of  Scripture,  are  needed  if  you  would  succeed 
as  a  church  peacemaker.  Work  out  some  hard  problem 
of  this  sort  before  next  term  begins  and  you  will  have 
anticipated  a  month's  work  on  the  other  side  of  the 
globe. 

5.  Sympathy  will  prove  the  key  to  many  hearts  in 
your  future  field.  If  you  fail  to  exercise  it,  your  labor 
will  be  largely  fruitless.  If  sympathy  is  lacking,  it 
should  be  sedulously  cultivated.  Your  lot  will  be  cast 
among  people  who  are  oftentimes  repulsive,  and  rarely, 
in  their  unconverted  state,  attractive.  Their  social  con- 
dition, habits,  thoughts  and  religious  views  will  be 
almost  diametrically  opposed  to  your  own.  To  cultivate 
sympathy  for  these,  it  will  be  profitable  to  attach  your- 


PREPARATION  GAINED  THROUGH  PERSONAL  WORK   117 

self  to  the  lowest  classes  in  your  community.  Enter 
individually  into  their  cares,  perplexities  and  sorrows; 
imagine  your  way  into  their  hearts,  and  then  think  out 
your  plan  of  relief.  A  month  at  a  college  settlement 
or  in  a  city  mission  will  help  you  greatly. 

6.  A  cognate  art  is  that  of  making  friends  with  those 
much  inferior,  perhaps  hostile  to  you,  and  it  will  prove 
extremely  helpful  abroad.  Do  you  not  know  some 
crabbed  Ishmael  of  the  town?  Practise  on  him  for 
your  own  and  Christ's  sake,  as  well  as  his  own.  A 
victory  now  may  mean  many  victories  in  your  future 
field. 

7.  Among  non-Christian  peoples  sympathy  and  abil- 
ity to  make  friends  will  best  pave  the  way  for  that  most 
important  phase  of  personal  work,  winning  souls.  The 
temptation,  when  the  candidate  begins  his  labors 
abroad,  is  to  rest  satisfied  with  a  wide  proclamation  of 
the  Gospel  and  to  neglect  mouth  to  ear  and  heart  to 
heart  effort.  To  fail  in  this  is  to  bring  forth  thirty  fold 
when  an  hundred  fold  is  possible.  Determine,  God 
helping  you,  to  prove  your  fitness  for  soul  winning 
abroad  by  fruitful  summer  months.  While  personal 
work  of  this  sort  varies  little  from  that  in  the  field,  it  is 
well  to  remember  that  differentia.  The  quotation  of 
appropriate  texts,  so  honored  in  Christian  lands,  has 
less  force  among  men  who  have  just  learned  of  our 
Scriptures  and  who  only  half  believe  in  their  truth  and 
authority.  Hence,  instead  of  exploring  your  Bible  for 
convincing  texts,  search  it  from  cover  to  cover  for  prin- 
ciples and  illustrations  which  can  be  brought  to  bear 
upon  a  soul  just  touched  by  the  gracious  Spirit.  John's 
blind  man  and  Samaritan  woman  may  prove  more  con- 
vincing than  his  Nicodemus.     The  experience  of  a 


Il8     PREPARATION  GAINED  THROUGH  PERSONAL  WORK 

neighbor  whose  changed  life  is  the  town  talk  may  be  a 
more  potent  weapon  than  any  quotation  from  Romans. 
While  the  above  program  will  prove  a  valuable 
preparation  for  service  abroad,  adopt  it  rather  be- 
cause of  present  privilege  and  because  of  Christ's  daily 
call,  "Son,  go  work  to-day  in  my  vineyard." 


PERSONAL    DEALING,    THE    GREAT    MISSIONARY 
METHOD  x 

REV.  S.  M.  ZWEMER,  F.R.G.S.,  OF  ARABIA 

Personal  spiritual  dealing  is  the  great  necessity.  In 
my  mind  this  is  the  fundamental  idea  of  missions. 

Volunteers  going  into  foreign  fields  will  not  have 
large  audiences,  as  ministers  have  in  this  country.  The 
bulk  of  the  work  is  personal  dealing  with  a  few.  The 
preaching  in  Arabia  and  China  and  India  is  not  after 
the  style  of  Peter  at  Pentecost,  but  of  Christ  at  the 
Samarian  well-side.  We  must  learn  to  do  the  personal 
work  with  one  or  two,  in  the  same  spirit  in  which  the 
well-prepared  address  that  will  reach  hundreds  is  deliv- 
ered, bringing  them  the  message  of  the  gospel. 

There  are  two  ways  to  fill  a  barrel  of  apples.  One 
way  is  to  send  a  boy  up  and  shake  the  tree  and  the 
apples  will  fall,  and  you  put  them  in  the  barrel,  good, 
partly  decayed  and  bruised,  but  they  won't  stand  ship- 
ment. The  other  way  is  to  climb  the  tree  and  pick  them 
one  by  one  and  put  them  carefully  one  by  one  into  the 
barrel.  And  from  the  evidence  of  missionaries  I  believe 
it  has  been  proved  that  these  are  the  kind  of  converts 
— those  gained  by  personal  effort — that  will  bear  ship- 
ment. 


*Report  Student  Volunteer  Convention,  Cleveland,  i! 
119 


120     PERSONAL  DEALING,  THE   MISSIONARY   METHOD 

The  work  in  the  foreign  field  is  a  work  of  faith,  the 
labor  of  love  and  the  patience  of  hope. 

It  is  a  work  of  faith  much  more  than  at  home.  At 
home  there  are  larger  results.  The  barrier  between 
you  and  the  world  is  not  as  high,  not  as  thick,  not  as 
long  lasting.  It  is  a  work  of  faith.  If  I  were  to  write, 
"There  is  no  use  of  trying  to  convert  the  Moham- 
medans in  this  generation,"  where  would  my  personal 
faith  be?  If  I  were  to  think  only  of  trying  to  reach  the 
next  generation  by  opening  a  school,  and  not  try  to 
bring  the  gospel  to  bear  right  on  their  hearts  now, 
where  would  my  faith  be?  You  need  faith  in  God,  in 
the  people,  and  in  yourself,  and  ability  to  tell  the  simple 
gospel  story,  after  you  have  mastered  the  language. 

It  is  a  labor  of  love.  I  have  written  in  my  Bible  the 
word  "Arabs"  in  the  13th  chapter  of  Corinthians.  Put 
there  the  word  "native" — that  Chinese  woman  or  that 
Arab,  and  then  read:  "Though  I  speak  with  the 
tongues  of  men  and  of  angels  and  have  not  love  for 
the  Arabs,  I  am  become  as  sounding  brass,  or  a  tinkling 
cymbal.  And  though  I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy  and 
understand  all  mysteries  and  all  knowledge,  and  though 
I  have  all  faith,  as  a  missionary  in  Arabia,  so  that  I 
could  remove  mountains,  and  have  not  love  for  the 
Arabs,  I  am  nothing.  And  though  I  bestow  all  my 
goods  to  feed  the  poor  in  China,  and  though  I  give  my 
body  to  be  burned  in  China  and  have  not  love  for  the 
Chinese,  it  profiteth  me  nothing."  And  then  read  right 
through  the  chapter  and  try  to  live  that  the  next  day. 
I  know  it  is  hard.  It  is  the  severe,  difficult  practice 
that  brings  the  tears  to  your  eyes  and  the  confession 
from  your  lips  as  you  kneel  down  and  say  you  have 
not  been  a  missionary  after  the  pattern  of  Jesus  Christ. 


PERSONAL  DEALING,  THE   MISSIONARY   METHOD       121 

Again,  it  is  the  patience  of  hope.  Faith  is  not  enough 
in  this  world ;  love  is  not  enough.  The  Arab  you  spoke 
to  and  believed  he  would  receive  the  Word  goes  away 
with  a  smile,  and  you  think  it  has  been  for  nothing. 
The  inquirer  whom  you  wrote  home  to  the  Board  about 
disappears  entirely  and  you  never  see  the  man  again. 
It  is  a  work  of  patience,  the  patience  of  hope,  to  keep 
on  hoping  for  a  convert.  You  must  bear  with  the  in- 
firmities of  the  natives  and  love  them,  in  spite  of  their 
filth  and  their  sin,  and  have  patience  in  awaiting  results. 

I  received  a  letter  from  a  fellow-worker  and  he  wrote 
me,  "When  you  get  new  volunteers  for  Arabia,  find 
men  of  the  evangelistic  type."  If  they  have  not  that 
feature  at  home  they  will  not  get  it  in  the  field.  We 
need  to  pray  for  that  spirit  and  toil  for  it  if  we  are  to 
evangelize  the  world  in  this  generation.  To  evangelize 
the  world  in  this  generation  it  must  be  a  day-by-day 
and  hour-by-hour  collision  of  souls.  I  believe  this 
personal  work  is  necessary,  because  it  is  all  the  work 
that  is  bearing  results.  I  believe  that  all  the  conver- 
sions recorded  in  the  mission  fields  have  been  the  result 
of  personal  spiritual  dealing,  and  not  preaching.  Of 
course,  there  have  been  cases  where  the  printed  Word 
has  brought  converts,  but,  as  a  rule,  it  is  the  personal 
spiritual  effort.  The  Bible  says,  "Knock  and  it  shall 
be  opened  unto  you."  We  are  not  to  pray  for  an  open 
door.  The  only  way  the  hardened  heart  is  opened  and 
the  only  way  a  closed  country  or  a  closed  village  or  a 
closed  home  is  opened  is  the  way  Christ  tells  us, 
"Knock  and  it  shall  be  opened."  Not  praying  or  seek- 
ing, but  knocking.  It  is  much  more  than  asking  or 
seeking.  Knocking  means  to  be  at  the  door,  to  touch 
the  door,  to  make  ourselves  felt  at  the  door,  to  be 


122       PERSONAL  DEALING,  THE  MISSIONARY  METHOD 

heard  behind  the  door,  and  after  we  have  done  that  we 
are  told,  that  Christ  "openeth  and  no  man  shutteth." 
He  tells  us,  "Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the 
end  of  the  world."  That  is  personal  spiritual  dealing. 
God  grant  us  all,  missionaries  and  volunteers,  more 
of  that  spirit  of  Christ. 


ADVICE  TO  VOLUNTEERS  x 
THE  VEN.  ARCHDEACON  MOULE,  B.D.,  MID-CHINA 

I  feel  it  a  very  great  privilege,  and  at  the  same  time 
a  very  solemn  responsibility,  to  offer  any  advice  to 
missionary  volunteers.  I  volunteered  thirty-eight 
years  ago,  and  have  been  connected  with  the  force  in 
the  field  thirty-four  years;  but  I  could  wish  myself 
rather  to  be  a  volunteer  once  more,  listening  to  advice 
from  some  missionary  veteran.  Would  that  I  could 
begin  my  mission  life  over  again,  with  eyes  open — 
open  I  mean  to  danger  and  possible  mistakes  and 
falls — and  yet  wider  open  and  fixed  on  my  Lord's  love 
and  power. 

I  will  not  attempt  a  very  orderly  or  elaborate  ex- 
hortation, but  state  briefly  some  few  thoughts  which 
have  occurred  to  me. 

I.  Many  years  ago,  in  our  Ningpo  Mission,  an  aged 
convert  named  Simeon  burnt  into  his  wrist,  with  a  hot 
iron,  the  sign  of  the  Cross,  explaining  his  action  in 
these  words :  "I  am  an  old  man,  and  my  memory  is 
failing ;  I  wish  to  remember  continually  my  Lord's  love 
in  dying  for  me."  Well,  now,  let  every  missionary 
volunteer  have  this  thought  burnt  into  his  heart  by  the 
sacred  fire  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  he  volunteers  for 
the  service  and  glory  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  alone. 
"Jesus  only  with  themselves."     This  thought,  in  the 


1The  Student  Volunteer,  London,  March,  1895. 
123 


124  ADVICE   TO    VOLUNTEERS 

center  of  spiritual  life,  will  be  the  sure  antidote  (a) 
to  despondency,  for  who  can  despond  with  such  a  Cap- 
tain and  Leader?  (b)  to  hurry,  for  the  Almighty 
King  of  Kings  is  in  no  need  of  my  hasty  service, 
though  He  accepts,  and  will  honor,  my  vigorous  and 
prompt  devotion;  (c)  to  the  fear  of  ridicule  from 
former  friends  and  acquaintances  at  home,  from  un- 
sympathizing  fellow-countrymen  abroad,  or  heathen 
opponents  in  the  field — for  ridicule  on  His  behalf  at 
whom  the  enemies  round  the  Cross  "wagged  their 
heads,"  is  glory;  (d)  to  disappointment  and  apparent 
failure,  for  He  must  reign;  (e)  to  the  deadly  poison 
which  alas !  lurks  near  to,  if  not  in  the  hearts  of 
workers  sometimes  in  the  hour  of  success — rivalry, 
envy,  or  harsh  criticism  of  those  who  fight  near,  under 
the  same  banner,  though  perhaps  not  in  the  same  regi- 
ment; (/)  to  pride,  for  high  though  the  honor  be, 
there  is  not  one  particle  of  merit  in  being  the  Lord's 
messengers. 

2.  By  all  means  ascertain  from  reliable  sources,  in- 
formation on  the  subject  of  the  religious  systems  of 
the  countries  where  the  army  in  which  you  volunteer 
is  fighting.  A  fair  and  accurate  knowledge  of  this 
kind  is  not  only  valuable,  but  indispensable ;  but  avoid 
the  veriest  whisper  of  a  hint  that  any  of  these  systems 
can  compare  with  Christianity  as  Light  of  Asia  or  of 
any  land.  "There  is  none  other  name  under  heaven, 
given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved." 

But  the  examination  of  these  systems  will  reveal  in 
some  cases  the  pathetic  yearnings  of  the  human  race 
after  some  hope,  and  some  way  of  escape,  from  the 
mystery  and  the  sorrow  of  this  mortal  state.  You  will 
find — as  Hardwick  points  out  in  his  "Christ  and  Other 


ADVICE  TO  VOLUNTEERS  1 25 

Masters,"  and  as  Archbishop  Trench  elaborates  in  his 
Hnlsean  lectures — thoughts  which  may  be  called 
adumbrations  of  Christianity,  but  which,  were  their 
thinkers  living  now,  so  far  from  rivalling  or  rejecting 
Christianity,  would  rather  hail  and  adore  the  Divine 
revelation,  as  the  great  realization  of  their  far-off  and 
obscure  guesses.  In  China,  for  instance,  there  are 
three  religious  systems  professed,  all  three  of  them, 
in  countless  instances,  by  the  same  individuals;  and 
these  three,  Taoism,  Confucianism,  Buddhism,  may  be 
called  guesses  at  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life.1 

3.  Do  not  expect  to  be  free  from  the  assaults  of  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  when  you  reach  the 
mission  field,  because  you  are  a  missionary;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  be  prepared  to  find  these  assaults  some- 
times redoubled  in  virulent  force.  Lay  hold  then  now 
on  God's  strength,  and  be  at  full  peace  with  Him.  Be 
accustomed  now  to  hold  the  Saviour's  hand  fast. 
Know  by  blessed  experience  now  the  power  and  the 
peace  of  those  dear  familiar  words,  "the  communion 
and  fellowship  of  the  Holy  Spirit.1' 

4.  Do  not  allow  the  question  of  service  to  come  be- 
fore you  too  often  thus,  "Why  should  I  go  to  the  for- 
eign field?"  but  rather  thus,  "Why  should  I  not  go?" 
And  do  not  allow  yourselves  too  quickly  to  withdraw 
your  offer  of  service  from  the  fear  that  you  have  not 
the  proper  qualifications.  Possibly  you  may  be  right; 
but  let  competent  Christian  judges  rather  decide  this 
point,  and  let  God's  providence  guide  you.  Only  pray 
for  complete  readiness  to  be  guided.  Do  not  rebel  or 
repine  if  God  says  stay,  when  you  want  to  go.    A  mis- 


lCf.      "The  Glorious  Land."    C.M.S.    House. 


126  ADVICE  TO  VOLUNTEERS 

sionary,  now  far  advanced  in  life,  before  going  into 
the  field,  could  find  no  reason  in  himself  for  his  suit- 
ability, except  this,  that  he  had  acquired,  through  the 
Blessed  Spirit's  gracious  teaching,  a  kind  of  instinct 
which  led  him  to  wish  to  speak  a  word  of  spiritual 
good  to  everyone  whom  he  could  reach. 

5.  There  are,  indeed,  problems  of  profoundest  mys- 
tery connected  with  the  past  history  and  present  state 
of  the  heathen,  and  the  long  supineness  of  the  Church. 
These  may  try  your  faith  while  waiting  for  the  fight; 
but  you  will  find  these  problems  either  vanish  or  fade 
when  in  contact  with  individual  souls,  and  with  your 
Lord's  great  marching  order,  "Go  teach  all  nations," 
ringing  in  your  ears. 


ADVICE  TO  MISSIONARY  VOLUNTEERS1 
BISHOP  J.  M.  THOBURN,  D.D.,  OF  INDIA 

I.  Don't  be  in  a  hurry.  Some  young  men,  when 
they  are  called,  want  to  go  right  off.  Some  men  know 
so  much  that  you  cannot  add  to  their  knowledge ;  they 
are  too  well  equipped  to  be  trained.  Now,  the  larger 
the  amount  of  your  secular  knowledge,  the  more  need 
to  have  it  assorted.  It  is  the  man  with  the  sharp  sword 
who  needs  to  be  careful  how  he  uses  it.  You  are  not 
in  college  to  learn  only  book  knowledge.  That  is  all 
right,  but  not  the  main  object.  There  are  many  uni- 
versity graduates  who  have  an  education  they  cannot 
use.  You  are  here  not  so  much  to  study  as  to  learn 
how  to  study,  for  when  you  get  to  the  field  your  studies 
begin.  I  am  studying  still,  and  the  problems  to  be 
solved  are  greater  now  than  any  I  learned  in  college. 
It  is  a  great  mistake  to  say :  "Oh,  he  is  all  right !  he 
is  well  informed ;  he  is  a  graduate."  That  may  mean 
anything  or  nothing.  It  is  not  what  he  knows,  but 
what  he  can  learn.  Can  you  learn  a  language?  Don't 
let  any  man  persuade  you  that  you  will  make  a  success- 
ful missionary  if  you  cannot  learn  a  language.  The 
common  people  will  not  trust  a  man  who  cannot  speak 
their  tongue.  If  you  want  the  natives  to  trust  you, 
learn  to  pronounce  their  language  well.  The  average 
young  missionary  has  not  patience  to  do  this. 


^otes  of  an  address  given  to  the  students  of  Harley  Col- 
lege, printed  in  Regions  Beyond,  London. 

127 


128  ADVICE  TO  MISSIONARY  VOLUNTEERS 

2.  Before  you  go  to  the  field  be  sure  that  you  can  do 
something  at  home.  Have  you  ever  led  a  soul  to 
Christ?  This  is  the  essential  work  for  you  in  every 
country.  Can  you  take  an  inquiring  soul  to  Christ? 
If  you  cannot  do  it  at  home,  you  cannot  do  it  in  a 
heathen  land. 

Supposing  you  can  do  that,  can  you  nurture  them 
afterwards?  You  must  learn  to  deal  very  tenderly 
with  young,  weak  converts.  How  tenderly  the  eye 
surgeon  deals  with  his  patient  if  he  is  to  effect  a  cure ! 
And  what  kind  of  surgery  must  it  be  when  the  heart 
needs  a  surgeon  ?  Jesus  said :  "I  come  to  bind  up  the 
broken-hearted."  We  need  great  delicacy  of  touch  to 
deal  with  young  disciples. 

If  a  young  lady  applied  to  me  to  be  sent  out  as  a 
foreign  missionary,  I  should  inquire  not  so  much  from 
her  teachers,  but  go  to  the  place  where  she  had  been 
living  and  find  out  what  her  young  associates  thought 
of  her.  Do  the  children  care  for  her?  Can  she  be 
well  spared,  not  missed  at  all?  If  so,  I  should  not 
want  her.     Has  she  made  herself  useful? 

What  have  you  done  at  home,  brethren  ?  Have  you 
ever  brought  one  soul  to  Christ?  Have  you  ever 
helped  one  Christian  on  the  way?  When  you  find  an 
inconsistent  Christian,  do  you  feel  like  kicking  him 
out  of  your  way,  or  like  taking  him  tenderly  by  the 
hand  and  showing  him  a  better  way? 

3.  You  must  guard  your  health.  They  say  in 
America  that,  as  a  preacher,  a  man's  life  is  practically 
done  at  fifty.  That  is  nonsense.  So  far  from  saying 
that,  I  think  the  average  of  life  is  increasing,  and  that 
we  should  aim  to  put  in  fifty  working  years — from 
twenty-one  to  seventy-one,  or  twenty-five  to  seventy- 


ADVICE  TO  MISSIONARY  VOLUNTEERS  I  29 

five — and  it  can  be  done  in  the  main,  when  God  does 
not  call  us  home  early.  But  for  this  you  must  pay  re- 
gard to  health — a  sacred  gift,  for  which  it  is  our  duty 
to  care.  We  must  respect  the  commandments  of  God 
not  because  they  are  in  the  Bible,  but  because  He  gave 
them.  We  feel  we  must  obey  the  command,  "Thou 
shalt  not  steal";  but  suppose  He  says,  "Thou  shalt 
not  wreck  thy  health" — and  He  does  say  it.  It  comes 
under  the  teaching  of  stewardship.  We  are  respon- 
sible for  whatever  God  gives  us, — health,  money,  abil- 
ity, etc., — responsible  to  Him.  In  the  tropics  especially 
you  must  study  the  laws  of  health.  In  India  we  get  up 
at  sunrise  and  work  till  n  a.m.,  when  the  day's  work 
is  done  in  the  hot  season.  Then  we  have  a  substantial 
breakfast.  After  that  we  sit  round  the  table  talking 
a  little  while,  and  then  go  to  bed  for  a  solid  sleep  for 
at  least  two  hours.  On  getting  up  again  we  are  as 
ready  for  work  as  in  the  early  morning;  but  we  sit 
indoors,  doing  light  work  until  5  p.m.,  then,  after  even- 
ing service,  work  on  to  10  or  n  p.m. 

I  had  a  colleague  in  India  who  did  not  believe  in 
"wasting"  his  time  in  bed.  I  reasoned  with  him  in 
vain;  he  would  study  in  the  afternoons.  One  day 
while  sitting  with  a  Hindi  book,  trying  to  study,  the 
book  fell  out  of  his  hand,  he  was  so  tired  out.  He 
was  overtaxing  himself,  but  would  not  listen  to  reason. 
He  would  run  across  the  courtyard  without  covering 
his  head;  he  was  not  going  to  be  effeminate.  One 
day  he  complained  of  a  peculiar  feeling  in  his  head, 
the  top  seemed  lifting  off.  Soon  his  memory  failed, 
his  imagination  became  excited.  Well,  he  had  to  leave 
the  country,  and  has  been  broken  down  ever  since. 

Now,  that  man  did  not  obey  God's  command  to  take 


130  ADVICE  TO  MISSIONARY  VOLUNTEERS 

care  of  his  health.  I  do  not  think  many  persons  can 
live  and  keep  their  health  in  tropical  countries  without 
seven  or  eight  hours'  sleep,  and  men  of  certain  tem- 
peraments require  eleven  hours. 

Wherever  you  go,  study  the  matter  of  food.  Do  not 
misunderstand  me  when  I  say  I  think  there  are  graves 
in  Africa  that  ought  not  to  be  there.  It  is  no  use  say- 
ing, "Oh,  the  Lord  will  take  care  of  our  health !" 
He  will,  but  only  if  we  obey  Him.  If  you  do  not  obey 
the  laws  of  health,  you  cannot  expect  to  live  in  a  bad 
climate.  If  possible,  find  a  place  free  from  malaria; 
and  by  degrees  God,  in  His  providence,  will  raise  up 
men  who  are  malaria  proof;  for  men  do  become  so. 
I  am,  happily,  myself  indifferent  to  questions  of 
malaria.  Don't  rush  unnecessarily  into  danger;  at 
the  same  time,  don't  shrink  from  a  dangerous  post 
when  it  is  the  call  of  duty. 

4.  When  you  get  into  the  field  don't  be  in  a  hurry 
to  be-  put  in  charge.  Moses  served  forty  years  in  his 
school  of  theology.  It  does  not  matter  if  you  spend 
three  years,  six,  ten,  in  getting  ready,  so  long  as  you 
get  ready.  Jesus  waited  thirty  years  before  he  began 
His  ministry.  We  do  not  know  why,  but  He  did.  And 
the  disciples  waited  ten  days  for  the  Spirit.  Why  did 
He  not  come  down  on  the  first  morning?  We  don't 
know.  How  those  disciples  seemed  to  be  wasting  their 
time  at  Jerusalem !  We  don't  understand  God's  plans, 
but  He  is  never  in  a  hurry.  Be  men  in  haste,  but  never 
in  a  hurry.    There  is  a  difference. 

5.  Lastly,  seek  in  constant  prayer  that  strong  and 
perfect  self-control  which  springs  from  the  realized 
presence  of  God.  You  are  His  messenger.  Above  all 
other  preparation,  you  need  constant  communion  with 


ADVICE  TO  MISSIONARY  VOLUNTEERS  131 

Him.  Your  supreme  equipment  is  personal  piety — 
communion  with  God.  Abroad,  you  live  in  danger  of 
getting  your  conscience  seared.  There  is  no  Sabbath, 
no  prayer,  none  of  the  associations  of  your  childhood, 
and  before  one  knows  it  one  becomes  just  a  little  care- 
less. You  are  so  hurried,  you  are  wanted  all  day ;  you 
are  tempted  to  omit  your  Bible  reading  one  morning. 
After  awhile  this  happens  every  morning,  and  before 
you  are  aware  of  it  you  get  less  prayerful  than  you 
used  to  be.  Without  Christian  friends  and  fellowship, 
living  amid  the  deadening  influences  of  heathendom, 
missionaries  are  in  danger  spiritually.  But  at  your 
peril  you  must  look  after  your  spiritual  life ;  you  must 
keep  everything  right  between  your  soul  and  God. 
And  you  can  only  do  that  by  talking  with  the  blessed 
Master  himself. 

Brethren,  do  you  know  Jesus  Christ  as  your  elder 
brother?  When  you  go  into  foreign  lands  and  begin 
to  preach,  it  will  be  everything  to  you  to  know  Christ. 
This  is  the  miracle  that  will  go  with  you:  that  when 
you  are  among  the  enemies  of  Christ,  speaking  to  them 
in  His  name,  He  Himself  is  with  you  always.  It  is 
your  part  to  give  the  message;  it  is  His  to  apply  it, 
to  make  people  know  that  you  speak  the  truth.  That 
is  the  miracle  of  Christian  testimony. 

Preaching  in  the  great  squares  of  Calcutta,  with  a 
listening  crowd  around,  I  have  said :  "This  is  the 
message  God  has  given  me;  and  if  it  be  His,  He  will 
make  you  feel  it  in  your  heart.  If  any  man  does  not 
believe  that  I  have  been  speaking  God's  message,  let 
him  come  forward  and  contradict  me." 

Not  once  or  twice,  but  often  I  have  made  this  chal- 
lenge, and  it  has  never  been  accepted  yet.     No  man 


132  ADVICE  TO  MISSIONARY  VOLUNTEERS 

has  ever  attempted  to  deny  my  assertion.  But  if  I 
had  said,  "I  am  here  to  affirm  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
Son  of  God,  and  if  any  one  here  does  not  believe  me, 
let  him  say  so,"  twenty  men,  especially  Mohammedans, 
would  have  come  forward  at  once  to  say  they  did  not 
believe  it.  They  would  contradict  me  on  almost  every 
statement;  but,  strange  to  say,  no  Hindu  or  Moham- 
medan has  ever  contradicted  me  when  I  have  simply 
preached  the  gospel  as  an  appeal  to  the  human  heart 
and  conscience,  and  affirmed  that  God  gave  me  the 
message.  This  is  the  miracle  of  Christianity,  the 
power  you  are  to  wield. 


PRACTICAL    SUGGESTIONS    TO    INTENDING    MIS- 
SIONARIES1 

REV.   J.   G.   BROWN,  OF   INDIA 

1.  Set  out  to  the  mission  field  with  a  purpose  but 
with  no  plan.  Let  your  purpose  be  the  highest  and 
purest,  namely,  to  glorify  God  in  the  salvation  of  the 
souls  of  the  heathen,  but  have  no  plans.  Life  and 
work  on  the  foreign  field  are  so  different  from  life  and 
work  at  home  that  you  really  have  no  data  on  which 
to  form  any  plans  for  work  abroad.  Get  into  contact 
with  the  older  missionaries,  put  yourselves  in  the  posi- 
tion of  learners,  gather  all  the  facts  and  data  possible 
and  then  form  your  plans. 

2.  Be  very  careful  of  your  spiritual  life  on  the  way 
and  especially  after  you  reach  your  station.  From  the 
time  you  leave  till  you  reach  your  destination  you  will 
be  on  the  go.  There  will  be  much  to  excite  your  in- 
terest and  absorb  your  attention.  The  temptation  will 
be  for  you  to  neglect  prayer  and  communion  with  God. 
On  board  ship  you  will  be  in  the  company  of  people  the 
great  majority  of  whom  will  be  very  worldly  and  un- 
godly. Beware  of  your  life  and  influence  among  them. 
Don't  feel  it  to  be  your  business  to  convert  all  of  them. 
Preach  Christ  by  your  life,  but  if  a  suitable  opportunity 
to  witness  for  Christ  presents  itself,  embrace  it. 


Report  Student  Volunteer  Convention,  Cleveland,  i< 
133 


134  PRACTICAL   SUGGESTIONS 

But  especially  after  you  reach  the  field  guard  care- 
fully your  spiritual  life.  Remember  that  it  is  going  to  be 
hard  to  live  a  holy  life.  Remember  that  while  heaven 
will  be  nearer  to  you  than  at  home,  hell  will  be  nearer 
too — it  will  be  not  only  beneath  you  but  all  around  you. 
Moreover,  remember  that  the  devil  will  be  after  you. 
How  well  he  knows  how  much  of  blessing  and  grace 
he  can  rob  the  heathen  of,  if  he  can  only  get  you  into 
his  control  and  destroy  your  influence.  He  would 
rather  get  hold  of  you  than  10,000  heathen.  As  they 
are  already  his  he  can  afford  to  neglect  them  and  go 
after  you.  Beware  of  him !  Moreover,  expect  to  find 
the  first  year  of  your  life  as  a  missionary  the  most  try- 
ing of  all.  You  will  have  to  learn  how  to  adjust  your- 
self to  an  entirely  new  physical,  moral  and  spiritual 
environment.  The  climate  will  search  you  through  and 
through.  No  physician  in  Cleveland  can  make  so  care- 
ful and  accurate  a  diagnosis  of  your  constitution  as  the 
climate  of  India,  for  example.  If  you  have  any  latent 
weakness  the  climate  will  find  it  and  draw  it  out.  Then 
the  new  environment  will  be  a  great  test  of  your  char- 
acter. It  will  test  your  moral  and  spiritual  fiber.  It 
will  reveal  to  you  how  much  you  have  been  dependent 
upon  external  influences  for  your  spiritual  vigor.  It 
will  test  the  depth  and  reality  of  that  missionary  enthu- 
siasm under  the  spell  of  which  you  set  out  for  the 
foreign  field.  You  will  need  to  give  yourselves  much 
to  prayer  and  to  the  study  of  the  Word  if  you  expect  to 
keep  your  hearts  pure  and  warm  while  living  in  an 
atmosphere  so  depressing  and  demoralizing. 

3.  When  you  reach  the  field  avoid  a  spirit  of  criti- 
cism. Don't  criticise  the  older  missionaries.  They 
know  more  about  mission  work  and  mission  methods 


PRACTICAL   SUGGESTIONS  1 35 

in  one  day  than  you  do  in  a  year.  Don't  criticise  the 
native  Christians.  Don't  set  up  a  standard  for  them 
and  then,  if  they  fail  to  come  up  to  it,  turn  around  and 
say :  "  I  don't  believe  any  of  them  are  converted."  Be 
easy  on  the  poor  native  Christians.  You  don't  realize 
the  generations  of  vice  that  are  behind  them,  the  awful 
environment  that  surrounds  them  and  the  depths  of 
their  ignorance  of  God  and  spiritual  things. 

In  this  connection  let  me  advise  you  not  to  flood  the 
home  papers  with  long  letters  descriptive  of  your  ex- 
periences and  impressions,  especially  during  the  first 
few  months  of  your  stay.  Wait  till  you  know  what 
you  are  writing  about. 

4.  Let  nothing  come  in  between  you  and  the  lan- 
guage. Give  yourself  wholly  to  it.  Don't  try  to  "  pick 
it  up."  Make  it  your  own.  Learn  it  so  well  that  if  a 
person  were  hearing  you  but  could  not  see  you,  he 
would  think  you  were  a  native.  You  will  find  the 
acquisition  of  an  Oriental  language  a  hard  and  trying 
task ;  but  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  finest  of  mental 
drills — better  to  you  than  any  two  years  of  a  university 
course. 

5.  Take  with  you  a  sound  heart  in  a  sound  body,  but 
don't  forget  to  carry  with  you  a  good  temper,  and  if 
you  have  not  got  one  wait  on  the  Lord  till  He  gives 
you  one.  You  need  a  good  temper  for  the  sake  of  your 
health.  The  climate  and  your  surroundings  tend  greatly 
to  produce  irritability.  Chronic  irritability  will  ulti- 
mately lead  to  nervous  prostration.  Worst  of  all,  to  the 
slow-going  lethargic  Hindu,  getting  angry  is  the  great- 
est of  sins.  He  defines  goodness  not  as  holiness  or 
purity,  but  as  good-nature.  To  him  the  good  man  is 
the  good   tempered   man — the  man   who  never   gets 


I36  PRACTICAL   SUGGESTIONS 

angry.     If  you  are  known  as  a  violent  tempered  man 
you  need  not  expect  to  wield  much  influence. 

6.  My  last  bit  of  advice  is  very  simple — beware  of  the 
sun.  In  America  you  look  upon  him  as  your  friend. 
After  you  enter  the  tropics  look  upon  him  as  your 
enemy.  Beware  of  him  on  board  ship  and  on  landing. 
Buy  a  pith  hat  on  the  way.  Many  a  promising  mis- 
sionary career  has  been  cut  short  by  carelessness  or 
ignorance  in  regard  to  exposure  to  the  sun. 


THE     IMPORTANCE     TO     A     MISSIONARY     OF     A 
KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  PEOPLE  » 

REV.  ARTHUR  H.  SMITH,  D.D.,  OF  CHINA 

It  is  a  common  notion  among  candidates  for  the 
foreign  field,  that  the  acquisition  of  the  language  will 
be  a  main  difficulty;  this  often  proves  to  be  the  case. 
There  is  some  reason  to  think  that  Americans  learn 
foreign  languages  with  more  trouble  than  other  Occi- 
dentals, albeit  quite  as  well.  Not  less  important,  how- 
ever, than  an  acquaintance  with  the  tongue  of  the 
people,  is  a  knowledge  of  the  people  themselves ;  and 
the  latter  acquirement  is  the  harder  of  the  two. 

Perhaps  the  most  essential  qualification  for  this  pur- 
pose is  a  true  sympathy  with  the  people  whom  we  wish 
to  comprehend.  Such  sympathy  is  developed  by  Chris- 
tianity, yet  it  is  not  a  strong  point  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race.  Americans,  as  such,  have  slight  relations  with 
Orientals,  while  Britons  have  many  and  complex  rela- 
tions with  many  Oriental  races.  But  the  Briton  lacks 
sympathy.  I  once  saw  a  group  of  African  stokers  on 
the  deck  of  a  British  steamer  in  the  Indian  Ocean.  One 
of  them  was  a  born  orator  and  actor,  and  entertained 
the  rest  for  hours  with  his  evidently  absorbing  tales. 
An  officer  of  the  ship  referred  contemptuously  to  the 
habit  which  this  man  had  of  telling  stupid  stories. 
That  remark  was  a  window  into  the  relations  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  East. 


lThe  Student  Volunteer,  New  York,  June,  1897. 
137 


138     IMPORTANCE  OF  A  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

To  all  Oriental  peoples,  etiquette  is  a  matter  of  far 
more  importance  than  we  can,  at  first,  comprehend. 
It  is  well  to  make  it  a  point,  to  understand  its  principles, 
however  incapable  we  may  feel  of  adopting  them.  It 
was  the  wise  advice  of  President  Wayland  to  his  son, 
to  observe  wherever  he  went  what  things  were  taken 
for  granted.  Nothing  in  the  East  is  more  "taken  for 
granted"  than  the  rules  for  social  intercourse.  They 
are  often  intricate,  perplexing,  wearisome,  maddening. 
But  we  must  know  them,  or  run  fatal  risks.  It  was  a 
just  complaint  of  a  Chinese  teacher,  that  when  he  made 
his  salaam  to  his  missionary  the  latter  would  often 
have  gone  far  past  him,  before  the  elaborate  bow  was 
ended  !  The  honorific  terms  of  many  Oriental  tongues 
are  appalling.  The  designations  of  relationships  which 
we  never  conceived  of  as  such  are  past  imagination, 
previous  to  experience.  But  we  must  know  the  sub- 
stance of  them,  or  be  set  down  as  barbarian  boors, — a 
position  which  all  our  efforts  may  not  enable  us  to 
escape  altogether.  In  the  Orient,  a  neglect  is  an  insult. 
Not  to  do  something  is  a  species  of  crime. 

Perhaps  the  most  pressing  wonder  to  a  new  comer 
among  the  thronging  masses  of  the  Asiatic  races,  is 
the  query,  "What  are  all  these  people  thinking  about?" 
To  the  reader  of  Cervantes'  inimitable  story,  it  is  quite 
clear  what  Sancho  Panza  was  thinking  about;  for,  as 
soon  as  he  opened  his  mouth,  a  proverb  was  born. 
Proverbs  and  popular  sayings  have  in  all  the  East  a 
currency  and  a  value,  which  they  never  had  with  north- 
ern races.  There  is  no  better  rule  than  to  fill  one's  self 
full  of  them,  for  there  is  never  a  time  when  they  will 
not  be  in  demand.  To  an  Oriental,  a  proverb  is  an 
argument:   it  is  in  itself  a  major  premise  and  a  minor 


IMPORTANCE  OF  A  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  PEOPLE      1 39 

premise,  and  the  auditor  is  irresistibly  led  to  cap  the 
citation  with  the  desired  conclusion.  By  what  possible 
means  could  labor  be  more  economized?  One  thus 
shows  that  he  is  at  least  endeavoring  to  understand  his 
people,  and  those  are  at  once  alive,  who  before  were 
dead. 

The  common  sayings  of  an  Oriental  people  are,  in  an 
important  sense,  a  key  to  race  traits,  and  race  traits 
are  among  the  most  mysterious  and  significant  phenom- 
ena in  this  mundane  existence.  It  was  an  eminently 
wise  suggestion  of  the  most  philosophical  of  the  many 
writers  on  China,  that  one  should  take  note  of  every- 
thing which  strikes  him  as  at  all  singular,  and  then 
endeavor  to  extract  from  a  native  explanations  of  the 
reasons  for  the  procedure  in  question.  A  "sufficient 
reason"  there  most  certainly  is,  for  what  we  often  dub 
"stupid." 

I  once  heard  a  cultivated  educator  in  a  literary  soci- 
ety of  Honolulu  remark,  that  he  "never  saw  a  Chinese 
without  wanting  to  kick  him."  This  was  a  case  of 
what  has  been  styled  "imperfect  sympathy,"  and  there 
are  many  such.  The  cure  is  to  endeavor  to  comprehend 
the  kickee,  and  you  will  refrain  from  kicking,  and  be 
content  to  learn  many  things  which  he  can  impart  in 
the  most  unconscious  but  effective  manner.  There  is 
a  danger  of  becoming  so  much  accustomed  to  our 
ignorance,  that  we  make  no  effort  to  mitigate  it.  An 
active  mind  ought  not  to  fall  into  this  frame,  yet  it  is 
by  no  means  an  imaginary  danger  to  be  guarded 
against. 

The  first  few  years  of  one's  missionary  life  are  in 
every  way  crucial.  It  is  important  to  begin  right.  I 
think  a  special  set  of  note-books  for  the  collection  of 


140     IMPORTANCE  OF  A  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

the  kind  of  material  in  question  would  prove  a  mine  of 
wealth.  At  first  all  impressions  are  vivid,  but  varied 
iteration  destroys  the  force  of  our  perception,  and  the 
faculty  of  perceiving  is  itself  wounded.  Nourish  it  by 
constant  use.  Compare  notes  with  other  similar  col- 
lectors, and  exchange  rare  specimens  as  Mark  Twain — 
in  "the  awful  German  language" — swapped  long- 
jointed  Teutonic  polysyllables  for  others  new  to  him. 
The  owner  of  a  carefully  developed  collection  of  such 
materials  as  this,  will  never  be  at  a  loss  for  spicy 
illustrations  for  his  missionary  talks  when  at  home  on 
a  furlough. 

Persistent  following  of  the  plan  here  suggested  will, 
in  time,  make  the  Occidental  more  of  an  authority  even 
upon  some  phases  of  Oriental  life,  than  the  Oriental 
himself.  Familiarity  with  the  life  of  the  people  will 
go  far  toward  atoning  for  inevitable  infelicities  in  the 
use  of  strange  and  perverse  forms  of  human  speech. 
It  is  said  that  if  you  want  to  interest  people  you  should 
talk  to  them  about  men  and  women.  Study  men  and 
women  and  you  will  know  something  about  men  and 
women,  and  will  be  able  to  teach  them  something  about 
themselves  and  their  needs. 

Common  sense  is  a  prime  qualification  for  a  mis- 
sionary. A  mighty  love  for  men  is  the  prerequisite 
for  successful  work  for  God.  No  earnest  worker  need 
despair,  because  the  things  to  be  learned  are  many  and 
hard.  They  will  grow  easier.  Something  can  be  done 
in  the  home  land,  and  as  all  one's  life  is  to  be  spent  in 
the  course,  there  is  no  occasion  for  haste,  much  less  for 
impatience.  Read  much  and  widely,  if  you  can;  but 
expect  to  find  the  best  text-books  in  your  people. 


HINTS  CONCERNING  THE  FIRST   STUDY  OF  LAN- 
GUAGE ON  MISSIONARY  SOIL1 

REV.  CHAUNCEY  GOODRICH,  D.D.,  OF  CHINA 

One  clay — long  ago — a  language  gift  was  made  to 
the  preachers  of  the  new  evangel.  But  all  the  days 
since  men  have  worked  for  the  new  tongue  they  were 
to  use,  and  have  acquired  it  through  a  long  and  stam- 
mering process.  There  are  two  principal  methods  of 
study,  which  may  be  spoken  of  as  the  old  and  the  new. 
The  old  and  common  method  of  learning  a  language 
may  be  briefly  described  as  sitting  down  with  a  native 
teacher,  spending  several  hours  each  day  in  reading 
after  him  from  a  book  of  colloquial  lessons,  and  in 
practising  those  lessons  with  him,  the  meanwhile  labor- 
ing over  the  sentences  and  struggling  to  master  them. 
This  method,  as  a  rule,  is  painfully  slow  and  disap- 
pointing. 

The  new  method  may  be  called  the  child's  method, 
which  is,  in  fact,  the  oldest  of  all  methods.  It  is  a  curi- 
ous fact  that  almost  any  child  learns  any  language,  that 
is,  the  ordinary  colloquial,  in  a  comparatively  brief 
time ;  learns  it  so  as  to  pronounce  correctly,  and  speaks 
idiomatically  and  generally  with  accuracy.  His  mis- 
takes are  chiefly  the  fault  of  his  teachers,  in  other 
words,  of  his  environment.    The  mimetic  powers  of  the 


rThe  Student  Volunteer,  New  York,  June,  i! 
141 


I42  HINTS  CONCERNING  STUDY  OF  LANGUAGE 

child  are  in  continual  exercise.  What  he  hears  he  re- 
produces with  astonishing  accuracy.  And  thus  in  a 
year  or  two  the  child  of  four  or  five  years  learns  the 
language  of  everyday  life. 

In  striking  contrast  to  the  ease,  rapidity  and  accuracy 
of  a  child  in  mastering  the  superficial  contents  of  a 
language,  may  be  noted  the  generally  slow,  difficult  and 
imperfect  acquisition  of  a  language  by  an  adult.  If 
he  be  on  his  feet  in  six  months,  and  speak  with  com- 
parative freedom  in  a  year,  his  progress  is  deemed 
phenomenal.  When  we  remember  that  the  child  is 
undisciplined,  while  the  adult  is  often  trained  by  a  score 
of  years  spent  in  various  mental  gymnasia,  the  contrast 
becomes  the  greater  marvel. 

I  have  often  watched  a  child  in  his  language  study — 
for  it  is  a  study — curious  to  learn  his  secret.  And  I 
have  noted  that  the  study  of  language  enters  into  every 
nook  and  cranny  of  his  life.  Does  the  child  play?  He 
learns  the  vocabulary  of  the  play.  Does  he  dress  ?  He 
learns  the  language  of  dress  and  the  name  of  every 
article  of  clothing.  The  same  is  true  of  everything 
where  his  life  touches  the  world.  Suppose  the  child 
of  five  or  six  wishes  to  use  the  word  come  in  any  one 
of  a  hundred  combinations,  he  would  not  stumble,  nor 
hesitate  for  a  moment,  as  many  a  student  with  twenty 
or  forty  years'  study  of  the  language  behind  him  might 
sometimes  do. 

Whether  the  child  has  been  sitting,  walking,  retiring, 
rising,  dressing,  eating,  working,  playing,  doing  no 
matter  what  of  a  thousand  things,  the  sentences  have 
been  flying  all  around  him  like  bees  about  a  hive.  He 
has  heard  and  repeated  them  with  tireless  iteration  and 
manifold  combinations,  till  they  have  become  his  per- 


HINTS  CONCERNING  STUDY  OT  LANGUAGE  143 

manent  possession;  and,  so  to  speak,  they  are  on  de- 
posit, ready  to  draw  out  at  a  moment's  notice.  Granted 
that  herein  lies  the  child's  success,  we  may  inquire, 
Can  the  adult  imitate  successfully  the  child's  method? 

I  am  certain  that  he  can.  I  well  remember  how  a 
Mr.  Maulmain  surprised  me  by  the  great  advance  he 
had  made  in  speaking  Chinese  during  an  absence  in  the 
interior  of  six  months.  His  idioms,  the  structure  of 
his  sentences,  and  his  intonation  were  all  thoroughly 
Chinese.  And  yet  Mr.  Maulmain  was  an  uneducated 
man,  who  possessed  the  linguistic  sense  to  a  very  lim- 
ited degree,  and  whose  chief  work  was  the  distribution 
of  Bibles.  What  might  be  done  by  a  scholar,  with  the 
aid  of  a  teacher,  pursuing  the  study  of  the  language 
with  undivided  attention  and  unwearying  ardor ! 

As  to  the  manner  in  which  the  child's  method  may 
be  pursued  we  will  venture  a  few  suggestions.  Begin 
by  securing,  if  possible,  a  live  teacher.  Buy  also  the 
best  available  books.  I  would  not  entirely  reject  books 
even  at  the  beginning.  Buy  also  blank  books  for  the 
pocket. 

Commence  your  first  lesson  with  talking.  Your 
teacher  knows  never  a  word  of  English.  The  new 
language  is  to  you  a  tangled  and  sunless  forest.  Never 
mind — talk.  Perhaps  some  good  friend  will  give  you 
the  phrase,  "What  is  this?"  Here  are  at  least  three 
words.  This  is  ample  vocabulary  to  begin  with,  enough 
to  set  you  bristling  all  over  with  interrogation  points. 
You  begin  with  whatever  may  be  in  your  room :  table, 
chair,  clock,  watch,  door,  etc.  You  repeat  the  names 
over  and  over,  again  and  again,  after  your  teacher, 
imitating  him  in  sound,  pitch  and  accent. 

Suppose  you  begin  with  the  table  right  in  front  of 


144  HINTS  CONCERNING  STUDY  OF  LANGUAGE 

you.  Play  table  with  your  teacher.  Tell  him  in  sign 
language,  table,  tablecloth,  above  the  table,  under  the 
table,  beside  the  table,  lay  on  the  table,  take  off  from 
the  table,  lift  up  the  table,  set  down  the  table,  push  the 
table,  pull  the  table,  turn  the  table,  set  the  table,  brush 
the  table,  wash  the  table,  wipe  the  table,  round  table, 
square  table,  etc.,  etc.  Use  pantomime  freely,  and 
without  fear  of  losing  your  dignity.  There  is  nothing 
in  the  above  sentences  which  you  cannot  give  your 
teacher  without  the  aid  of  an  interpreter.  He  will  give 
you  back  your  sentences.  If  he  is  a  live  man,  he  will 
also  play  at  pantomime  and  give  you  other  phrases. 
Now,  with  your  teacher,  repeat  these  phrases  over  and 
over,  back  and  forth,  up  and  down,  throwing  them  up 
like  dice,  to  come  down  in  miscellaneous  confusion,  all 
your  senses  being  on  the  alert.  Play  table  say  for  an 
hour  and  a  half.  You  will  by  this  time  have  earned 
a  recess  of  fifteen  minutes. 

When  you  come  back  to  your  work,  perhaps  you 
would  like  to  write  for  fifteen  minutes  or  half  an  hour. 
If  the  language  you  are  learning  chances  to  be  the 
Chinese,  daily  practice  in  writing — with  a  pencil  or 
brush,  as  you  please — will  be  invaluable. 

After  writing,  repeat  your  "table"  lesson,  using  the 
vocabulary  you  have  gained  for  all  that  it  is  worth.  A 
half  hour  will  do.  Now  go  and  practise  on  the  first 
person  you  meet.  From  the  beginning  mingle  freely 
with  the  people,  talking  with  them  and  learning,  not 
only  the  language,  but  also  a  great  deal  beside. 

For  the  afternoon,  repeat  the  lesson  of  the  morning 
with  endless  repetition  and  constant  variation.  You 
may  finish  the  day  with  an  hour  from  your  book  of 
lessons,  spicing  the  reading  as  much  as  possible  with 


HINTS  CONCERNING  STUDY  OF  LANGUAGE  145 

conversation.  If  you  find  tones,  as  in  Chinese,  you  are 
to  master  them,  but  still  chiefly  by  the  imitative  method 
of  the  child. 

Let  the  second  day's  work  proceed  as  the  first.  Make 
large  demands  on  your  memory.  It  will  be  strangely 
perverse  and  unreliable  at  the  first,  proving  a  sieve, 
and  dropping  too  many  words  through  it.  But  by  hard 
work,  constant  insistence,  and  continual  repetition, 
words  will  by  and  by  stick  to  you  like  burrs  to  a  coat. 
Day  by  day  take  up  new  things,  things  right  around 
you,  things  in  which  the  language  impinges  on  daily 
life,  anything  not  abstract  that  interests  you. 

After  the  first  fortnight  (?)  you  may  take  a  reading 
lesson  in  the  morning,  as  well  as  in  the  afternoon, 
always  mixing  in  conversation  freely  with  the  reading. 
Some  single  sentences  may  suggest  a  dozen  others. 
Count  it  as  nothing  that  you  can  read  the  lesson.  Mas- 
ter the  lesson  by  making  its  sentences  ready  coin  in 
your  pocket.  Talk,  repeat,  everywhere  to  everybody, 
till  the  sentences  have  become  a  part  of  yourself.  You 
will  not  long  complain  of  the  method  being  too  easy 
for  your  disciplined  mind  ! 

Be  always  on  the  watch  for  new  words  and  sentences, 
and  write  them  in  your  pocket  note-book.  Then  take 
them  to  your  teacher  at  the  first  opportunity.  Attend 
service  from  the  first  Lord's  Day  you  are  in  your  new 
home,  and  onward,  jotting  down  in  your  note-book 
(as  unobserved  as  may  be)  words  and  phrases,  making 
them  the  first  order  in  Monday  morning's  lesson.  You 
will  follow  the  preacher  with  some  pleasure  in  two  or 
three  months,  and  will  afterward  rapidly  master  his 
principal  vocabulary.  Never  lose  a  sentence  from  be- 
ing ashamed — i.  e.,  too  proud — to  ask  for  its  repetition 


146  HINTS   CONCERNING  STUDY  OF  LANGUAGE 

or  interpretation.    Think  of  every  sentence  as  a  nugget 
of  gold.    You  will  rapidly  grow  rich. 

After  a  few  months  you  will  learn  new  phrases  with 
every  visit  to  the  street:  in  the  shop,  at  the  fortune- 
teller's stand,  from  a  sleight  of  hand  performer,  at  a 
small  theatrical  show,  from  persons  in  a  quarrel,  from 
the  sellers  of  small  wares,  from  some  ragged  beggar- 
looking  vagrant  who  gathers  a  crowd  and  harangues. 
From  all  these  you  will  get  capital  sentences  for  daily 
use.  Shut  your  hand  on  them.  Do  not  say,  I  have  no 
faculty  for  catching  sentences  on  the  wing.  You  never 
will  seem  to  possess  such  a  faculty  till  you  cultivate  it. 
You  will  do  well  to  drop  in  to  other  chapels  than  your 
own  and  hear  other  preachers.  They  will  have  pet 
phrases  and  choice  idioms  which  you  will  soon  learn. 
By  hearing  many  persons  you  will  enrich  your  vocabu- 
lary. Wherever  you  go,  talk  and  ask  questions.  It  is 
your  business  everywhere  and — nearly — always. 


MISSIONARY  EFFICIENCY  AND  SERVICE1 
LUTHER  GULICK,  U.D.,  NEW  YORK 

Usefulness  upon  the  mission  field  depends  largely 
upon  staying  power.  How  misdirected  the  consecration 
that  allows  one,  in  the  first  four  years  of  missionary 
life,  to  get  into  a  condition  where  efficiency  for  the 
balance  of  one's  life  is  diminished ! 

The  winning  of  the  world  is  a  campaign,  not  a  skir- 
mish. Superficial  loyalty  leads  to  thoughtless  rush; 
deep  abiding  loyalty  leads  to  the  holding  of  one's  self 
steadily  in  hand,  so  that  the  maximum  of  efficiency  may 
be  secured.  The  second  takes  more  and  deeper  con- 
secration than  the  first.  To  give  one's  self  for  Christ  in 
one  enthusiastic  onset  is  easy,  as  compared  to  living 
steadily  and  strongly  from  year  to  year  for  Him. 

There  is,  however,  a  deeper  demand  for  the  con- 
servation of  vitality  than  that  of  mere  policy.  The  Old 
Testament  gives  us  a  clear  statement  of  God's  estimate 
of  the  man  who,  in  apparent  excess  of  zeal,  violated 
God's  direct  command — obedience  first,  sacrifice  sec- 
ond. And  the  man  who  will  not  obey,  cannot  sacrifice 
with  approval  from  God.  It  is  His  clear  message  to 
us,  that  the  laws  of  our  physical  natures  are  His  laws, 
and  are  not  to  be  violated  any  more  than  are  moral 
commands.     The  bodv  and  its  laws  are  not  removed 


xThe  Student  Volunteer,  New  York.  April,  1897. 
147 


148  MISSIONARY  EFFICIENCY  AND  SERVICE 

from  the  moral  world.  There  are  no  sins  which  so 
blight  the  soul  as  does  so-called  "lust"  of  the  flesh. 
One's  spiritual  insight  and  ability  to  understand  God's 
message  are  related  in  vital  ways  to  physical  well-being. 

What  more  pathetic  sight  than  that  of  a  devoted  mis- 
sionary removed  from  service  in  the  prime  of  useful- 
ness— after  the  language  has  been  well  learned,  after 
the  love  and  confidence  of  the  natives  have  been  won, 
after  school  and  church  have  been  established — and 
relegated  to  a  life  of  continued  struggle  with  nervous 
disease?  "A  mysterious  dispensation  of  God's  provi- 
dence?" Not  at  all;  overwork,  over-worry,  lack  of 
vacation,  lack  of  home  life — all  conditions  at  variance 
with  God's  will,  and  so  God  removed  him.  He  would 
not  obey,  so  he  could  not  sacrifice.  And  we  may  fairly 
judge  of  the  comparative  estimate  in  which  God  holds 
these  things  by  the  way  in  which  He  enforces  His  laws. 

This  leads  us  to  speak  of  marriage  and  the  mis- 
sionary's home  life  as  related  to  his  effectiveness.  The 
Christian  home  is  the  center,  the  focus  point  of  the 
activities  of  a  missionary's  life.  To  establish  Christian 
homes  is  to  establish  a  Christian  atmosphere.  An 
individual  rarely  makes  an  atmosphere ;  a  home  always 
does.  What  one  really  means  is  shown  by  the  way  in 
which  one  acts  in  the  home.  Long  sermons  on  the 
dignity  of  womanhood,  of  wifehood,  had  in  a  certain 
case  little  effect,  but  the  stooping  of  the  husband  to  tie 
up  his  wife's  loosened  shoe-string  set  a  whole  neighbor- 
hood talking  of  the  position  of  woman  in  that  mis- 
sionary's home.  Family  worship,  the  love  of  one's  wife 
and  children,  the  education  of  children,  hospitality,  the 
fact  that  one  is  a  normal  man  on  a  plane  with  other 
men  and  has  a  family — all  point  to  the  great  advantage 


MISSIONARY  EFFICIENCY  AND  SERVICE  149 

in  service  to  those  who  marry,  establish  a  Christian 
home,  and  have  a  family  of  children. 

What  can  one  do  as  a  student  to  enable  one  to  best 
stand  the  change  of  climate,  change  of  food  and  change 
of  habits  involved  in  going  to  a  missionary  land  ?  The 
bodily  processes  should  all  be  kept  active,  for  then 
adaptations  readily  take  place.  The  body  seems  to  be 
adaptable  to  changes  in  inverse  proportion  to  the  age 
of  the  cells  of  which  it  is  composed.  Physical  exercise 
promotes  change  and  rejuvenation  of  tissue;  accord- 
ingly, this  is  one  of  our  chief  means  of  maintaining 
bodily  efficiency.  In  most  fields  there  is  no  call  for 
great  muscular  power  or  skill ;  reasonable,  all-round, 
regular,  unexcited  bodily  exercises  are  called  for.  The 
mind  needs  bodily  exercise  as  well  as  mental  recreation. 
Have  some  play  available — wheeling,  kodaking,  bota- 
nizing, swimming,  etc.  Formal,  set  gymnastic  exer- 
cises are  good,  but  are  inferior  to  those  games  which 
enlist  the  interest  of  the  mind.  Nervous  people  should 
avoid  games  of  the  kind  in  which  great  efforts  are 
demanded,  or  extreme  attention.  Nervous  breakdowns 
have  been  hastened  by  the  playing  of  match  games  at 
sanitariums.  The  nervous  exhaustion  was  more  than 
the  muscular  gain.  Bolting  and  skin  friction  are  also 
valuable. 

Symptoms  of  overwork  are  badges  of  dishonor. 
Many  seem  to  be  proud  of  them,  as  of  scars  received 
in  honorable  combat.  They  are  rather  the  marks  of 
parental  discipline.  May  the  time  soon  come,  when 
we  shall  be  as  ashamed  of  violating  physical  as  moral 
laws.  To  take  care  of  one's  self,  year  after  year,  is 
prosaic.  People  admire  those  who  forget  themselves 
and  rush  in,  overwork  and  break  down — "such  devo- 


150  MISSIONARY  EFFICIENCY  AND  SERVICE 

tion!"  "such  self-sacrifice!"  they  say.  In  reality  these 
missionaries  did  not  have  enough  devotion  to  do  the 
harder  thing,  and  live  simply  and  truly  before  God 
every  day.  We  often  wear  ourselves  out  by  taking 
responsibility  which  belongs  to  God.  This  is  God's 
world.  He  is  God.  Things  are  going  His  way.  We 
are  to  live  His  life  fully  and  freely.  Results  belong  to 
Him.  The  Father  says  obey.  The  child  may  not  know 
why,  but  if  a  true  child,  he  obeys  and  trusts  the  father 
for  the  result. 


MEDICAL  ADVICE   TO   OUTGOING   MISSIONARIES1 

HERBERT  LANKESTER,  M.D.,  LONDON 

So  often  ill-health,  an  utter  breakdown,  or  even 
death  itself  is  the  result  of  some  carelessness  in  what 
may  be  thought  to  be  a  comparatively  small  matter, 
that  we  feel  that  too  much  stress  cannot  be  laid  upon 
the  importance  of  these  things,  and  we  hope  that 
student  volunteers  will  not  forget  these  hints  when 
they  go  to  the  mission-field.  It  can  be  no  more  right 
to  unnecessarily  fight  a  bacillus  than  to  walk  into  a 
lion's  den,  unless  something  is  to  be  gained  by  do- 
ing so. 

You  are  going  to  do  God's  work  in  the  place  you 
believe  God  has  sent  you — ask  Him  to  give  you  wis- 
dom by  His  Holy  Spirit,  but  He  expects  you  to  do 
your  part.  It  was  not  right  for  our  Lord  to  cast  Him- 
self down  from  the  pinnacle  of  the  Temple,  it  is  not 
right  for  you  to  run  unnecessary  risk  that  ordinary 
knowledge  and  common  sense  would  make  quite  avoid- 
able. 

While  there  are  occasions  when  it  may  be  right  to 
run  risks,  yet  remember  that  God  does  work  mainly 
through  human  agents,  and  that  therefore  it  is  part  of 
your  sacred  duty  to  keep,  as  far  as  you  can,  your  body 
fit  for  His  service.  To  this  end  I  would  call  your 
special  attention  to  two  or  three  points : 


1Tht  Student  Volunteer,  London,  November,  1897. 
151 


152  MEDICAL  ADVICE 

(a)  Exercise  and  Recreation. — I  can  say  without 
hesitation  that  those  missionaries  who  have  had  the 
best  health  in  the  field  have  taken  a  good  amount  of 
regular  exercise.  Sometimes  regular  exercise  may  be 
difficult  to  obtain,  but  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance. 
Exercise  may  or  may  not  be  recreation.  Some  hobby 
that  takes  away  the  mind  from  the  worries  and  routine 
of  the  daily  work  is  a  great  help  in  the  preservation 
of  health. 

My  attention  has  been  drawn  to  the  fact  that  some 
missionaries,  especially  ladies,  have  greatly  neglected 
these  important  matters  during  the  early  months  when 
engaged  in  language  study. 

(b)  Diet. — With  regard  to  diet,  ever  remember  that 
because  A.  B.  can  live  on  this  or  that  article  of  diet,  it 
does  not  follow  that  therefore  you  can.  Many  who 
can  digest  without  any  difficulty  the  mixed  diet  to 
which  they  have  been  accustomed  in  this  country, 
would  fail  at  once  on  one  consisting  exclusively  of 
vegetables  and  fruit.  For  good  health  the  great  ma- 
jority of  men  and  women  need  a  good  amount  of  exer- 
cise, and  a  good  supply  of  wholesome  food.  It  is  not 
wise  to  try  and  save  money,  even  for  the  work,  by  stint- 
ing the  quality  or  quantity  of  food,  as  I  know  has  been 
done  by  some.  If  there  is  any  tendency  to  diarrhoea, 
it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  be  careful  with  re- 
gard to  eating  fruit.  Some  residents  in  the  tropics 
have  to  avoid  it  almost  entirely.  Never  on  any  account 
neglect  an  attack  of  diarrhoea. 

(c)  Water. — There  is  now  no  doubt  that  such 
diseases  as  cholera,  typhoid,  dysentery,  tropical  diar- 
rhoea, and  various  forms  of  "worms"  are  due  to  certain 
specific   organisms   which   gain   their   entry   into   the 


MEDICAL   ADVICE  1 53 

human  body  mainly  through  drinking  water.  Malaria 
is  also  due  to  a  living  organism,  and  is  probably  very 
frequently  conveyed  in  a  similar  manner. 

It  is  therefore  of  the  utmost  importance  to  all  resi- 
dents in  the  tropics  that  no  water  should  be  drunk  con- 
taining the  germs  of  these  diseases.  The  great  ma- 
jority of  filters  are  worse  than  useless;  there  are,  in 
fact,  only  one  or  two  that  will  remove  these  extremely 
minute  micro-organisms.  They  can,  however,  all  be 
destroyed  by  boiling  the  water  for  several  minutes,  and 
I  strongly  recommend  that  a  missionary  "in  every  house 
should  make  it  part  of  his  or  her  duty  to  see  that  this 
is  actually  done.  It  is  not  sufficient  to  order  a  native 
servant  to  do  it.  Before  boiling  it  may  be  passed 
through  a  filter,  to  remove  obvious  impurities,  before, 
not  after,  boiling,  as  it  will  in  the  latter  case  possibly 
wash  out  of  the  filter  some  of  the  very  elements  you 
wish  to  avoid.  It  is  important  that,  as  far  as  possible, 
water  should  be  boiled  as  required,  and  should  not  be 
allowed  to  stand  in  uncovered  vessels. 

(d)  Sun. — I  know  of  missionaries  who  have  died 
or  have  been  invalided  home,  either  permanently  or 
temporarily,  who,  humanly  speaking,  would  have  been 
still  at  wrork  if  they  had  taken  the  advice  of  older 
workers  with  regard  to  exposing  themselves  to  the 
sun's  rays.  I  would  impress  upon  you  in  the  strongest 
possible  manner,  with  regard  to  this  point,  that  you 
must  not  judge  for  yourself  from  your  experience  of 
European  heat.  'Rays  of  the  sun  in  a  tropical  land, 
which  may  not  seem  to  you  hotter  than  many  you  have 
fully  exposed  yourself  to  at  home,  have  vastly  greater 
power  to  injure,  and  even  when  the  sky  is  cloudy  may 
do  great  harm.    With  regard  to  details,  I  would  say, 


154  MEDICAL  ADVICE 

take  the  advice  in  this  matter  of  old  and  experienced 
residents  who  know  what  is  best. 

(e)  Clothing. — Protect  head  and  spine  from  the  sun 
and  wear  some  clothing  that  will  allow  the  excessive 
perspiration  to  pass  off  slowly,  so  as  not  to  cause  a  sen- 
sation of  chilliness.  If  the  clothing  is  really  wet  by 
rain,  river,  or  even  perspiration,  it  should  always  be 
promptly  changed. 

Remember  especially  the  great  change  of  tempera- 
ture at  sundown,  and  therefore  the  risk  of  chill,  and 
the  fact  that  the  malarial  attacks  do  very  often  come 
on  after  exposure  to  the  mists  that  often  rise  at  that 
time.  Chill  alone  will  not  cause  malaria,  but  it  un- 
doubtedly is  very  frequently  the  determining  cause  of 
an  attack,  the  germs  of  the  disease  being  already  in  the 
system. 

If  going  to  East  or  West  Africa,  I  would  advise  you 
to  take  daily  a  small  dose  of  quinine,  say  half  a  five- 
grain  tabloid,  morning  and  evening,  three  weeks  before 
reaching  the  coast,  and  if  living  in  a  malarious  district, 
continue  it  regularly.  If  going  to  other  parts  of  the 
world,  take  five  grains  a  day  whenever  you  may  be 
going  to  itinerate  in  a  distinctly  malarious  district. 

Generally,  I  would  say,  without  in  any  sense  "cod- 
dling" yourself,  take  care  of  your  health.  If  you  are 
feverish,  it  must  in  ordinary  cases  be  more  right  in  the 
sight  of  God  for  you  to  keep  quiet  in  bed,  or  in  the 
house,  rather  than  to  go  about  doing  your  ordinary 
work. 


THE  YOUNG  WOMAN'S  MISSIONARY  OUTFIT1 

MRS.  LUCY  W.  WATERBURY,  BOSTON 

Every  out-going  missionary  should  be  provided  with 
an  outfit,  certain  necessaries  in  her  comfort  and  her 
work.  There  will  be  emergencies  when  she  will  need 
to  draw  heavily  on  her  stores.  Be  sure,  dear  girl  volun- 
teers, that  you  secure  the  essentials,  as  you  prepare  this 
missionary  outfit.  One  worker  in  Africa  wrote  pa- 
thetically, "Our  supplies  are  nearly  gone,  we  haven't 
enough  of  anything  but  lard."  So  you  may  find  in  your 
spiritual  equipment  a  full  stock  of  courage,  but  a  small 
supply  of  patience  and  an  utter  lack  of  the  "oil  of 
gladness." 

Let  us  go  over  the  list  of  essentials.  We  shall  find 
such  a  comprehensive  one  in  Gal.  v.  22,  under  the 
heading:  Fruits  of  the  Spirit.  Love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  kindness,  goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness, 
temperance.  You  believe  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  abid- 
ing in  you.  What  proof  have  you?  "He  that  abideth 
in  Me  and  I  in  him,  the  same  beareth  much  fruit."  "If 
we  live  by  the  Spirit,  by  the  Spirit  let  us  also  walk." 
Preceding  this  ingathering  of  souls,  which  we  are  apt 
to  think  the  real  fruit-bearing,  must  come  this  fruitful- 
ness  of  our  own  lives. 

"Love,  Hope,  Patience;  let  these  be  thy  graces, 
And  in  thine  own  heart  let  them  first  keep  school." 


lThe  Student  Volunteer,  New  York,  March,  1896. 
155 


156  THE  MISSIONARY  OUTFIT 

We  cannot  preach  love  and  live  hate ;  we  cannot  bring 
joy  and  peace  to  others  if  we  have  them  not  ourselves. 
Surely  we  must  secure  every  one  of  these  dear,  homely, 
work-a-day  graces  if  we  would  win  this  weary  world 
to  Christ. 

We  begin  with  the  greatest,  Love;  which  seeketh 
not  her  own,  hopeth,  believeth,  endureth.  "Seeketh 
not  her  own."  Watch  two  little  children  playing.  Even 
though  they  may  not  seize  each  other's  toys,  it  is  quite 
enough  to  mar  the  happiness  if  each  clings  tightly  to 
her  own.  Our  ozvn  way— our  own  rights,  so  often 
prove  our  undoing.  Love  shares ;  love  gives  up  and  out 
and  away ;  love  is  the  unfailing  test,  for  "God  is  love," 
and  "he  that  loveth  is  born  of  God." 

Joy.  Fill  up  every  crevice  and  corner  with  this 
bright,  golden  fruit.  Do  not  be  discouraged  if  you  are 
not  naturally  joyous,  for  you  can  learn  to  be.  You  need 
not  be  frivolous,  but  do,  oh,  do  be  cheery !  Live  a  life 
of  pure  gladness,  you  child  of  a  King.  There  are  a  few 
"Aunty  Dolefuls"  among  the  missionaries,  only  a  few, 
but  we  do  not  want  any  more.  Life  is  sorrowful ;  most 
of  us  have  woes,  but  the  world  does  not  need  them.  It 
needs  sunshine  and  smiles  and  comfort,  so  put  in  a 
good  supply  of  joyousness  and  use  it  freely  every  day. 

Peace.  Surely  you  who  are  to  preach  a  gospel  of 
peace  must  be  peacemakers  in  the  most  beautiful  sense. 
Peace  is  not  merely  the  absence  of  strife,  not  a  dead 
calm ;  it  is  power  and  harmony ;  it  is  a  possession.  The 
meaning  will  dawn  upon  you  as  you  toil  alone  in  a 
far-off  land. 

"Peace,  perfect  peace,  with  loved  ones  far  away, 
In  Jesus'  keeping  we  are  safe  and  they." 

Long-suffering!  which  means  patience.    You  may 


THE  MISSIONARY  OUTFIT  I  57 

summon  all  your  fortitude  to  meet  lions  and  snakes, 
and  lo,  a  tiny  red  ant  or  an  infinitesimal  flea  proves  to 
be  your  foe,  and  you  have  no  weapons  with  which  to 
meet  them.  We  so  often  prepare  for  the  great  trials 
which  never  come,  and  leave  unguarded  the  daily  en- 
trance to  find  that  some  trivial  slight  or  repeated  un- 
kindness  has  stolen  all  our  patience.  Does  the  Spirit 
within  you  help  you  to  bear  sweetly  and  patiently  the 
disagreeable  habit  of  your  room-mate,  or  the  cutting 
criticism  of  your  friend?  Can  you  endure  petty  trials 
as  bravely  as  you  think  you  could  bear  great  ones? 

Kindness!  Is  your  attitude  toward  people  in  general 
kindly  and  sympathetic?  Do  children  read  their  wel- 
come in  your  face?  Do  the  girls  want  you  in  sickness 
or  in  trouble  ?  You  cannot  borrow  at  will  this  grace  of 
kindliness.  It  must  be  your  everyday  garb  or  you  will 
wear  it  awkwardly. 

And  Goodness!  The  active  expression  of  the  kindly 
feeling  will  follow  naturally.  But  "There  is  none 
good,"  says  our  Master,  and  in  the  light  of  Perfect 
Goodness  how  our  own  lives  lie  in  shadow !  And  yet 
we  may,  we  must,  follow  the  example  of  Him  who 
went  about  doing  good.  The  good  child  may  not 
attain  to  her  high  ideal,  but  she  strives,  and  almost  un- 
consciously the  unselfish  service  is  bringing  her  char- 
acter into  likeness  to  the  only  true  ideal. 

Faithfulness.  Which  rules,  impulse  or  duty?  You 
may  be  bright,  enthusiastic,  zealous,  but  if  you  be  not 
trustworthy,  how  can  God  or  humanity  depend  on  you  ? 
A  trustworthy  servant  may  lack  many  desirable  qual- 
ities, and  still  be  a  profitable  servant.  Faithfulness  in 
preparation  will  precede  faithful  work  on  the  field. 

Meekness.     What  shall  one  do  with  this  old  time 


158  THE  MISSIONARY  OUTFIT 

fruit,  this  negative  virtue?  You  will  learn  that  in  not 
doing,  not  saying,  you  are  achieving  your  greatest  vic- 
tories. It  is  a  rare  fruit  and  a  sure  sign  of  the  divine 
Spirit.  You  have  known  unselfish,  brave,  earnest  men 
and  women.  How  many  truly  meek  ones  have  you 
met?  Just  because  this  fruit  is  not  often  brought  to 
perfection,  let  us,  if  possible,  secure  it  for  our  outfit. 

Temperance;  or  the  better  marginal  reading,  self- 
control.  Peter  struggled  for  it — John  attained  to  it 
after  many  years.  We  find  our  need  of  it  in  a  hundred 
ways.  Let  us  seek  it,  not  in  a  vain  battle  against  cer- 
tain besetting  sins.  Let  us  find  it  in  a  perfect  union 
with  One  who  is  "your  Master,  even  Christ."  Self- 
control  is  fine,  Christ's  control  is  sublime,  and  only  in 
the  greater  mastery  do  we  find  the  lesser. 

It  is  a  long  list  and  contains  some  costly  fruits. 
Which  will  you  leave  out  ?  You  need  not  leave  any  out ; 
for  the  One  who  sends  you  goes  with  you,  according  to 
His  promise.  Your  missionary  outfit  may  be  complete ; 
for  "All  (things)  are  yours  ;  and  ye  are  Christ's  ;  and 
Christ  is  God's." 


In    Preparation 

A  GEOGRAPHY  AND  ATLAS 
OF  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

By  HARLAN  P.  BEACH,  M.  A.,  F.  A.G.  S. 
Two  volumes,  cloth  bound;  net  price  post-paid,  $2.50  per  set 

A  DISTINCT  mission  land  is  presented  in  each 
chapter.  There  is  given  a  vivid  picture  of 
its  geography  and  its  races,  its  social  and  re- 
ligious condition  as  unaffected  by  Christian  missions, 
as  well  as  an  account  of  the  Protestant  mission  work 
as  it  is  being  carried  on  in  the  opening  year  of  the 
twentieth  century.  It  is  not  a  history  of  Protestant 
missions,  but  a  clear,  systematic  and  interesting 
portrayal  of  the  outstanding  facts. 

The  statistical  tables  present  the  latest  and  most 
detailed  missionary  statistics  of  the  hundred  mis- 
sionary societies  of  Canada,  United  States,  Great 
Britain  and  the  Continent.  The  station  index  shows 
the  missionary  force  and  work  of  the  society  or 
societies  which  are  laboring  in  nearly  five  thousand 
stations.  The  maps,  on  which  are  marked  the  sta- 
tions of  all  societies,  are  artistically  and  geographi- 
cally correct,  having  been  specially  prepared  for 
the  work  by  well-known  British  cartographers. 

Advance  orders,  accompanied  by  cash,  will  be 
received  at  any  time,  and  the  books  sent  as  soon 
as  ready. 

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V 


B00K5  FOR  MISSION  STUDY 

The  Evangelization  of  the  World  in  This  Generation.     By  John  R. 

Mott.     Bibliography,  analytical  index.    i2mo,  245  pp. ;  paper, 

35  cents  ;  cloth  decorated,  gilt  top,  $1.00. 

It  is  strong,  graphic,  and  full  of  fire. — Epworth  Herald. 

It  is  stimulating,  lucid,  and  convincing,  addressing  itself,  not  to  the 
emotions,  but  to  the  judgment,  yet  so  spiritual  in  tone  and  purpose  that  it 
encourages  and  inspires  the  reader. —  The  Sunday  School  Times. 

This  is  a  book  to  stimulate  zeal  for  the  mission  cause. —  The  Moravian. 

The  book  is  doubly  worth  the  reading,  both  for  its  moving  appeal  to  the 
universal  Christian  consciousness  and  for  the  timely  information  it  gives  as  to 
the  grand  sweep  of  modern  missionary  thought  and  effort,  the  wide-reaching 
activities  of  the  present,  and  the  marvelous  opportunities  of  the  future.—  The 
Christian  Advocate. 

Nothing  better  can  be  found  to  give,  in  brief  and  compendious  review,  a 
summary  of  the  missionary  outlook  of  the  church  at  the  present  hour.— Rev. 
James  S.  Dennis,  D.D.,  in  The  Churchman. 

We  earnestly  commend  this  work  to  the  attention  of  ministers  and  students, 
and  of  all  who  are  interested  in  the  missionary  enterprise.— Free  Church  of 
Scotland  Monthly. 

Strategic   Points  in  the  World's   Conquest:   the  Universities  and 

Colleges  as  related  to  Christian  Progress.     By  John  R.  Mott. 

Map.     i2mo,  218  pp.;  cloth  decorated,  gilt  top,  85  cents. 

A  report  of  Mr.  Mott's  observations  during  his  twenty  months'  tour  around 

the  world,  in  the  course  of  which  he  visited  practically  all  the  colleges  and 

universities,  bringing  most  of  them  into  affiliation  with  the  World's  Student 

Christian  Federation.      The  Federation  is  the  last  tidemark  of  enlightened 

scholarship ;    it  is  no  empty  name  which  Mr.  Mott  uses  for  his  book  ;    he 

merely  translates  into  four  words  the  meaning  of  a  movement  to  wed  religion 

to  our  schools,  to  confirm  the  connection  between  virtue  and  intelligence,  to 

garner  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  piety. —  The  Evangelist. 

New  Testament  Studies  in  Missions,  being  outline  studies  covering 
the  missionary  teachings  of  the  four  Gospels  and  Acts  and 
the  Pauline  Epistles.  By  Harlan  P.  Beach.  i2mo,  80  pp.; 
interleaved  for  additional  references  and  MS.  notes,  outline 
map;  paper,  15  cents. 
An  intelligent  use  of  this  book  cannot  fail  to  deepen  interest  in  missions, 

and  lead  to  efficient  methods  of  work. — New  York  Observer. 

It    is    full  of  good  things  for  those   who    use    it   -wisely.— Journal   and 

Messenger. 

The  Healing  of  the  Nations:  a  Treatise  on  Medical  Missions, 
Statement  and  Appeal.  By  J.  Rutter  Williamson,  M.B. 
Edinburgh  University.  Member  of  the  British  Medical  Asso- 
ciation. Bibliography.  i2mo,  95  pp.  ;  paper,  25  cents  ; 
cloth,  40  cents. 

The  appeal  made  by  the  awful  sufferings  endured  in  the  absence  of  medical 
relief  is  made  intense  by  the  facts  here  put  betore  us,  and  the  success  of  the 
medical  missionary  as  a  pathbreaker  for  Christ  through  the  jungles  of  super- 
stition and  prejudice  is  put  beyond  a  doubt. —  The  Outlook. 

This  is  a  little  volume  overflowing  with  important  truth.—  The  Living 
Church. 

While  the  argument  is  strong  and  convincing,  the  devotional  spirit  that 
pervades  the  whole  is  warm  and  evincing. — Presbyterian  Review. 

STUDENT  VOLUNTEER  MOVEMENT 
3  West  29th  Street,  New  York 


BOOKS  FOR  MISSION  STUDY 

Drvh  on  the  Hills  of  T'ang:  or  Missions  in  China.  By  Harlan  P. 
Beach.  Bibliography,  analytical  index,  missionary  map, 
statistics,  and  outline  scheme  for  studying  missions  of  any 
Mission  Board  in  China.  i2mo,  181  pp.;  paper,  35  cents; 
cloth,  50  cents. 

This  hand-book  vividly  describes  the  land,  people  and  religions  of  China, 
and  gives  an  interesting  account  of  missionary  operations  in  the  Empire. 

It  is  a  terse,  compact  and  serviceable  manual  about  missions  in  China.—  The 
Congregationalist. 

It  is  a  valuable  treasury  of  information  in  itself,  and,  if  desired,  can  be 
made  the  basis  of  minute  and  extended  study.—  The  Christian  Advocate. 

Furnished  with  a  good  map  and  well  indexed,  it  is  a  very  handy  reference 
manual. —  The  Outlook. 

Mr.  Beach  has  done  his  work  with  characteristic  thoroughness;  his  authori- 
ties are  most  trustworthy. — Arthur  H.  Smith,  in  the  Chinese  Recorder. 

Japan  and  Its  Regeneration.  By  Rev.  Otis  Cary.  Bibliography, 
statistics,  index,  and  missionary  map.  i2mo,  137  pp.; 
paper,  35  cents  ;  cloth,  50  cents. 

Written  by  a  Japanese  missionary  of  long  standing  and  rare  discrimination, 
it  presents  in  compact  form  Japan's  past  and  present  history,  her  people  and 
religions,  and  the  work  of  missions  in  that  Empire.  It  is  lucid,  trustworthy, 
and  certain  to  interest  every  friend  of  missions  and  all  students  of  contem- 
porary history.— Japan  Evangelist. 

A  better  manual  upon  the  Japanese  Empire  and  its  evangelization  coulc 
scarcely  be  produced. — Church  Missionary  Intelligencer. 

A  compact,  comprehensive,  and  excellent  summary  of  what  is  most  neces 
sary  to  disseminate  in  the  way  of  information  about  the  country.— Congrega- 
tionalist. 

Protestant  Missions  in  South  America.  By  Rev.  Harlan  P.  Beach, 
Canon  F.  P.  L.  Josa,  Professor  J.  Taylor  Hamilton,  Rev. 
H.  C.  Tucker,  Rev.  C.  W.  Drees,  D.D.;  Rev.  I.  H.  LaFetra, 
Rev.  Thomas  B.  Wood,  LL.D.,  and  Mrs.  T.  S.  Pond.  Bibli- 
ography, missionary  map,  analytical  index,  general  and 
missionary  statistics.  i2mo,  230  pp.;  paper,  35  cents;  cloth, 
50  cents. 

The  only  volume  describing  the  work  of  all  Protestant  Missionary  societies 
laboring  in  the  "  Neglected  Continent."  Having  been  written  by  recognized 
authorities  in  different  sections  of  the  continent,  it  meets  an  urgent  need. 

The  reading  or  study  of  this  volume  and  its  accompanying  tables  of  general 
and  missionary  statistics,  together  with  its  missionary  map,  will  surely  produce 
strong  convictions  as  to  Protestantism's  debt  to  this  promising  continent  of 
republics.—  The  Intercollegian. 

Africa  Waiting;  or  The  Problem  of  Africa's  Evangelization. 
By  Douglas  M.  Thornton.  Bibliography,  missionary  statis- 
tics, and  map.     i2mo,  148  pp.;  paper,  35  cents. 

The  only  comprehensive  and  recent  book  of  small  compass  concerning  the 
people  and  missions  of  Africa. 

It  takes  a  wide  range— geography,  languages  and  races  ;  the  special  prob- 
lems of  each  of  the  four  great  sections  of  the  Dark  Continent  ;  the  slave  trade 
and  the  drink  traffic—  The  Sunday  School  Times. 

STUDENT  VOLUNTEER  MOVEMENT 
3  West  29th  Street,  New  York 


BOOKS  FOR  MISSION  STUDY 

A  Hand  Book  of  Comparative  Religion.     By  Rev.  S.  H.  Kellogg, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  Missionary  to  India,  and  Author  of  "  The  Light 
of  Asia  and  the   Light  of   the   World."     Analytical   index; 
184  pp.;  paper,  30  cents  ;  cloth,  75  cents. 
This  volume  is  one  of  the  latest  and  most  comprehensive  discussions  of  the 

fundamental  agreements  and  divergences  of  Christianity  and  the  great  ethnic 

faiths. 

The  Cross  in  the  Land  of  the  Trident.      By  Harlan  P.   Beach. 

i2mo,  108  pp.;  paper,  25  cents  ;  cloth,  40  cents. 

A  brief  and  accurate  account  of  the  land,  history,  people,  and  religions  of 
India,  together  with  the  marvelous  work  accomplished  by  Protestant  Missions. 

While  very  brief,  it  contains  a  remarkable  amount  of  condensed  informa" 
tion  in  regard  to  the  geography,  history,  religions,  and  peoples  of  India,  and 
the  various  phases  of  missionary  work. — Public  Opinion. 

Missions  and  Apostles  of  Mediaeval  Europe.    By  Rev.  G.  F.  Maclear, 
D.D.,  Warden  of  St.  Augustine's,  Canterbury.     i6mo,  149  pp.; 
paper,  25  cents  ;  cloth,  40  cents. 
A  study  of  the  mission  fields  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  of  the  heroic  Apostles 

who  have  been  the  makers  of  modern  Europe.       It  is  interestingly  written  by 

the  highest  British  authority  on  Mediaeval  Missions. 

Modern  Apostles  in  Missionary  Byways.  By  Rev.  A.  C.  Thompson, 
D.D.,  Rev.  H.  P.  Beach,  Miss  Abbie  B.  Child,  Bishop  Walsh, 
Rev.  S.  J.  Humphrey,  and  Dr.  A.  T.  Pierson.  Bibliography, 
analytical  index,  portraits.  i2mo,  108  pp.;  paper,  25  cents  ; 
cloth,  40  cents. 

This  collection  of  biographies  brings  before  the  reader  the  story  of  the 
heroic  deeds  and  fruitful  service  of  Hans  Egede— Greenland,  Allen  Gardiner 
— Patagonia,  Titus  Coan— Hawaii,  James  GiTmour— Mongolia,  Eliza  Agnew— 
Ceylon,  and  Ion  Keith-Falconer— Arabia.  The  story  of  their  lives  is  more 
thrilling  than  romance.— Baptist  Union. 

These  biographies  will  be  found  very  interesting  and  profitable.—  The 
Christian  Guardian. 

Knights  of  the  Labarum :  a  Study  in  the  Lives  of  Judson — Burma, 
Duff — India,  Mackenzie — China,  and  Mackay — Africa,  By 
Harlan  P.  Beach.  i2mo,  11 1  pp.;  paper,  25  cents  postpaid. 
No  better  book  for  classes  just  beginning  the  study  of  missions. 
Social  Evils  in  the  Non-Christian  World.  By  Rev.  James  S.  Dennis, 
D.D.  Numerous  illustrations;  analytical  index.  i2mo, 
172  pp.;  paper,  35  cents. 

Reprinted  from  Volume  I  of  Dr.  Dennis's  great  work,  "  Christian  Missions 
and  Social  Progress."  An  exceedingly  strong  argument  for  Christian  Mis- 
sions derived  from  the  awful  social  conditions  prevalent  in  non-Christian 
countries. 

The  Planting  and  Development  of  Missionary  Churches.     By   Rev. 

John    L.   Nevius,   D.D.,   Late    Missionary  to    China.      i2mo, 

92  pp.,  with  portrait;  paper,  15  cents;  cloth,  25  cents. 

A  statement  by  one  of  China's  leading  missionaries  of  methods  of  work. 

While  not  beyond  criticism,  success  is  claimed  for  it  in  portions  of  China,  and 

especially  in  Korea. 

STUDENT  VOLUNTEER  MOVEMENT 
3  West  29th  Street,   New  York 


Princeton   Thfoloqical  Srminary-Sp«r  Library 


1    1012  01129  9627 


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